Eternity in a Grain of Sand
by JadeLightning-Wolf
Summary: 150 years ago, Kaoru saved Kenshin's life by turning him into a vampire. In present day, it is time for him to return the favor before Kaoru is lost to him forever.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: …Ahem…well, I've been gone a while, I know. Please don't hurt me. I haven't been sick or on vacation or anything of the sort. I've just been consumed by school. Christmas break was the recuperation period. Such a shame it couldn't last longer. Anyway, this is my latest offering to you, the masses. Mostly I'm posting because no one else is_. looks hopelessly at most favorite authors and their un-updated stories_ Anyway, this is probably going to remain a fic with T rating for blood sucking vampires now and innuendo a bit later. Without further ado, on with the show._

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 1**

The pain was unbearable, so consuming his mind could think of nothing around it. Each breath burned through his torso as though white-hot irons were wrapped around his ribs. He could feel the sickening sensation of his life's blood trickling oh-so-slowly out of the wound just beneath his ribcage. The warmth of the blood contrasted sharply with his freezing skin. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and give in to the peaceful oblivion of unconsciousness, but the will to survive was imprinted on his mind as clearly as the instinct to breathe.

Sluggishly, he turned his head to the side in hopes of finding something to concentrate on other than the blinding pain. Night had fallen some time ago. The moon was between its phase of darkness and the first quarter. It's ghostly light gilded the battlefield in silver, giving the entire scene the sense of an ethereal dream. He took in details as only one in a dream can take in such minute characteristics—with utter detachment.

A stand of fir trees stood shadowy sentinel over the fallen. As far as the eye could see, bodies were strewn. The night and the cold softened their pallor and cloying stench, but death still clung to the insides of his nostrils and coated his tongue. Not five feet from where he had fallen, he could see one of his fellow manslayers, glassy eyes staring and unfocused. The man's blood ran in a river from his body to join Kenshin's own blood. He could just make out the tiny river as it flowed past his face, trailing through his red hair so that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other.

A feather light touch on his cheek made his head jerk. His vision went white as the sudden spasm stretched the terrible wound and ripped more flesh apart. When his vision cleared, he vaguely wondered where the moon had gone. There still seemed to be stars in the sky, yet they were moving, dancing among each other. Another touch on his nose surprised him, but he lacked the strength to even move now. At long last his mind comprehended what was happening—it was snowing.

In spite of everything, the cold, the snow, the blood, the pain, Kenshin smiled. It was only fitting after all. Once he had made the snow bleed with another's blood. It was only fitting that now the snow would bleed with his blood. He closed his eyes, allowing his head to slowly tilt to the side again. Almost languorously, his eyes opened, half-lidded and glassy.

There was a white light in the distance. Were they searching for survivors? Kenshin did not even know who had won the battle. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it, knowing that he would not be heard because he could not even draw enough breath to support his voice. The light came closer. It was white and silvery, not unlike the light the moon had been casting earlier.

Moment by moment, Kenshin's eyes focused on what approached him. When he finally comprehended what approached, the smile formed on his lips again. At long last, it was his time to leave this world for approaching him was a maiden clothed in a white kimono that seemed to glow with its own light. Her hands were tucked in her sleeves and she walked barefoot with stately, elegant steps. Her face was pale, almost as white as the kimono she wore. Its fine bones and elegant lines were accented by long black hair, pulled back into a horsetail. His breath stopped when her eyes swiveled and met his.

She began to approach and all Kenshin could do was stare into her eyes. They were a clear crystalline blue that reminded him slightly of the glaze on fine china. But where glaze was flat and contained only in a simple layer, her eyes were bottomless and ancient. Her gaze contained eternity in a grain of sand, infinity in a shard of glass. In that gaze, he drowned and the blanket of unconsciousness at last took him, a willing prisoner.

The woman continued to walk towards him, aware that his own exhaustion had overcome him, if only for a moment. She knelt beside him, uncaring that her feet and kimono now rested in a pool of blood, slowly freezing on the barren ground. Gently, she touched his cheek, tracing the bright scar etched in the flesh. He was so very young.

She did not jump when he grabbed her wrist, did not even act as though he had startled her. Slowly, the eyes that had first captivated her opened. His gaze was golden, as brilliant as the harvest moon and as tortured as a condemned soul. His mouth opened and moved, but even so near she could hardly make out the words.

"Please, tenshi, I am ready."

She met his eyes and understood what he expected. With gravity and bearing beyond anything Kenshin had ever seen before, she nodded. Her arms slid beneath him, cradling him against her like a child. She was chill, her body radiating a heat only fractionally warmer than the air around them. He curled into her anyway, again slipping into a land of peaceful black.

With deliberate purpose, Kaoru carried the young soldier off the battlefield.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru watched the young soldier, whom she'd spread out on her simple futon. Here in this cottage in the woods, they were far from the war that had so injured him. He hadn't woken the entire time she'd carried his slim body. She guessed that standing, he'd only be marginally taller than she.

She'd lit a single candle, but it flickered wildly in the draft of the house, a constant breeze she had ceased to notice. Its sporadic light threw shadows over the sharp handsome features of his face and made the scar on his cheek seem almost black against his parchment-white skin. If he were not dying of blood-loss, she could easily imagine a beautiful sun-kissed gold in place of the deathly pallor.

His breathing was shallow, so soft that his chest did not even rise with each intake. His heartbeat was so slow in her ears. Slowly, she removed the blood soaked gi to look at his wounds. With the cloth removed, brilliant red flowered across his skin, enticing her with its rich coppery scent. Kaoru turned her head away as she felt fangs slip out and press at her lips.

It was so very foolish. Had she not come to the battlefield in search of souls too far gone to be saved? Why did she not want to harm this human, this creature whose guttering life force was what first called to her? Her control returned in tiny increments as she slowly turned back to look at his face. The scar attracted her attention once again.

It was in the shape of a cross, adding to his already unusual features. While the wound itself seemed old, the color was still a brilliant red, as though freshly inflicted. She reached out fingers and traced the strong lines. Through them, she perceived pain beyond anything she'd ever felt before. Perhaps this was why she was reluctant to end his life; he'd already suffered more than was necessary, especially for a mere mortal.

As Kaoru withdrew her fingers, his eyes opened. She detected disorientation as he gazed up at her. His arm moved, reaching for something, but even that movement was beyond him. His eyes squeezed shut in pain, but she heard not even a whimper. When he was able, he opened his eyes again and looked down at the gaping wound and his own life's blood.

"I'm going to die, aren't I?"

She looked down at the wound. It had not pierced any vital organs, though she imagined his diaphragm was rent. It was probably very painful to breathe. However, he had lost so very much blood.

"I do not know, young soldier. However, I will do all in my power to save you if that is what you desire."

She reached for a bowl of water which she'd already strained antiseptic plants through. Quietly and with not a hint of disgust, she cleaned his wound, washing away the blood her body was crying for. When the wound was clean, she retrieved a needle and thread steeped in alcohol. With utter patience and careful fingers, she began to stitch the wound closed.

The man closed his eyes, laying back and clenching his hands into fists repeatedly. She imagined it gave him something else to concentrate on. When the wound was closed, he opened his eyes again, slowly exhaling in a manner that was most likely painful. Kaoru lifted a bottle of sake and turned to him.

"This will sting, young one," she told him softly. He only nodded and breathed again. She tipped the sake over the wound, recleaning the edges and washing away the oils her hands had left behind.

Kenshin opened his eyes to watch as she disposed of his gi and the implements she'd used to aid him. He could feel unconsciousness hovering on the edge of his mind, waiting to drown him. But he fought the healing sleep with all his might.

"Why do you aid me, tenshi?"

She smiled softly at the name he'd dubbed her with. It was so very ironic that he would call her an angel—she who had intended to kill him until she'd met his eyes.

"Because you have suffered enough."

His eyes widened in surprise at her answer, but his face remained impassive. He slowly tilted his head about and searched the room, though for what she couldn't know.

"My swords," he said, "where are they?"

She blinked momentarily before saying, "They are sitting on my clothes chest. Why?"

"Please, put them next to me."

She stood slowly, watching him all the while as she retrieved the blades. As she placed them under his hand, she said, "You are a hitokiri, then." She was not asking.

"Hai."

"I've heard whispers about you. You are the one they call Battousai. The man they say is a demon."

He made a guttural sound that she imagined might have been a laugh if he'd had the air for it. "I am he. However, you should not believe everything you hear."

"They say you are unbeatable."

"Does not the wound prove otherwise?"

"Who wounded you?"

Kenshin thought back to the battle, trying to remember through the haze of desperation and screams and bloodlust. He'd been fighting a member of the Shinsengumi. There'd been a wide clearing around them, men avoiding the battle in order to insure their own lives for a little longer. It had been unspoken that once the Battousai and the Wolf engaged, no one was to interfere with their battle.

But Saitoh had not been the one to wound him. No…that had been a foot soldier who had ignored the unspoken rule. Kenshin had felt his ki approaching and maneuvered to put the Wolf between himself and the fool who dared to interfere in their fight. But the fool had not been alone. There had been another, one who was skilled enough to hide his ki. The foot soldier had only been a distraction. The other, the one with mad eyes and a rictus grin, had been the one to score this blow. Saitoh had killed them both after Kenshin fell.

"I don't know who he was, just that he was insane and obsessed with the kill."

She nodded, understanding the desire for blood that could grow so strong that it became a sickness. She had seen too many of her own kind fall under the strain of the obsession.

"Tell me, tenshi, do you truly think that I might live."

"I do not know, young one. You lost a great deal of blood and there is always the possibility of infection. Only time will tell know."

"What will you do if I die?"

"I will cremate your body and spread your ashes at the top of the mountain. It is the least I can do."

"You owe me nothing."

"No, but the country owes you a great deal. They are saying the Ishin Shishi would not have won the battle if the Battousai had not felled at least one hundred men on his own."

"They exaggerate."

"Perhaps…but perhaps, young soldier, you underestimate yourself. Having a legend on your side can have amazing effects on the rest of your soldiers."

"The Wolf is as much a legend as myself."

"Yes, but the Shinsengumi have more than just the Wolf. You are one man and thus have no one else but yourself to blame if you fail. If the Shinsengumi fails, that reflects on Saitoh's reputation, whether he was part of the failure or not."

Kenshin was silent for a long while. "What is your name, tenshi?"

Kaoru glanced at him before turning towards the door. She had not hunted yet and the scent of this man's blood was becoming too much for even her control. "My name, young one, is Kaoru."

He was asleep by the time she'd walked out the door.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru's forehead furrowed in a rare show of worry. She'd returned from her hunt, having found a suitable grave robber whom she had no quandaries about killing. However, in the short time she'd been gone, Kenshin had developed a fever. He thrashed in his sleep and several times she'd had to subdue him to keep him from hurting himself. Every time she touched him, his skin burned abnormally hot under her fingers.

She built up a fire and stuffed blankets in the cracks of her home, shutting out the bitter winter wind. A blizzard now howled around them, crying its fury at the cruelty of men, or perhaps the cruelty of Kaoru's kind…or maybe it simply just cried for them all. She covered Kenshin with every blanket she owned, hoping to sweat out his fever until she could give him willowbark tea to ease the burning.

Many hours passed as she watched over his fitful sleep and changed his bandages. It was daylight now, but she could not tell what time exactly because the blizzard still raged outdoors. She was feeding the fire when Kenshin suddenly woke with a gasp. Quickly she snatched the water she'd been keeping warm specifically for him.

He tried to sit up as she approached, but his wound stopped him. She added the willowbark to the water and waited for it to steep as she knelt beside him.

"You should not move yet, young one. Your wounds are by no means well."

He tried to say something, but was too parched to make the words come. She poured a cup of tea and waited, allowing it cool enough to drink. He took the cup with a shaking hand and sipped, trying not to drink too quickly. The tea soothed his throat and helped his tongue lose some of the thickness it had gained during the fever.

"You're very ill," Kaoru told him as he drank. "The fever has been burning in you for almost a day. It's dangerously high."

He finished the tea and handed the cup back to her, a silent plea for more. When he tried to speak this time, the words came, though they were rough and quiet.

"I'm dying," he said—it was not a question.

Kaoru looked at him a long time before nodding. "You are. You might have lived if the fever hadn't set in, but as it is, you haven't had nearly enough time to recover the blood you lost in order to fight the infection."

She gave him another cup of tea, which he took with surprising calm. The idea of dying was not fearful to him. He dealt with death every day. What he truly feared was what awaited him after death.

Kaoru took a deep breath and set the tea pot aside. "I told you," she said slowly, "that I would do everything in my power to save you. There is still something in my power that I can do. But first I must know, and you must answer me honestly, do you want to live?"

Kenshin looked up into her eyes, the depths swallowing him whole. He thought long about her question. There had been so many lives that he had taken. Unbidden, the memory of snow and the scent of plum blossoms came to him. He deserved to die for all the crimes he'd committed. And yet…

He spoke, "There is part of me that says it is my time. I've already escaped death too many times, and this would be one too many. I hardly deserve the life I have. But I've been fighting for my life since I was born. The will to live is strong…is an instinct to me. I can't ignore it as well."

He stopped for a moment, aware that he might regret either decision the moment he gave it. "So to answer your question Kaoru, yes, I want to live." And so, he condemned himself.

oOoOoOoOo

_Present day, San Francisco, United States_

Kenshin scanned the party with disdain. Half of the attendees were drunk on cheap wine and the other half were drunk on blood. Why he had agreed to come to this particular party when he'd turned down every other invitation was beyond him. These people were not ones that interested. They crossed the thresh hold of life because of their obsession with blood and death, not out of necessity.

He touched the hilt of the sword at his side, seeking what little comfort it gave him. So many years had gone by since he'd last had to use it in defense. He had a new responsibility now, and the reputation of that responsibility had garnered him fear and respect in the twisted underworld.

Since the middle of the twentieth century, just after World War II, vampires had been migrating to the Americas at alarming rates. With the increase of fangs in the New World, human attentions quickly became a problem. Too many young vamps did not have the control they needed with so many innocent humans about. Authorities had started asking questions in the right places, wondering if perhaps the Old World was a little less silly in their ancient beliefs.

The Blood Council, rulers of the vampire world, had approached Kenshin personally and asked if he would take on the job of eliminating the vampires that endangered their shadowy society. He'd agreed whole-heartedly, understanding that the creatures he'd be destroying were anything but sentient. He had yet to come across a loose vamp that could fully comprehend the nature of what it had done, the numerous human lives it had taken.

And now, on a short break, he'd found his way to the West Coast in hopes that he could loosen up a little, could relax off the guard he'd built to deal with the dark politics that surrounded him. His vacation was having no such effect. Instead of seeing a room full of potential friends and lovers, he saw only room of vampires and their servants who could, at any moment, turn on him and eliminate that which they feared. It had been such a mistake to come.

He turned from the main room into the small area where drinks were being served. Among numerous bottles of wine and other stronger drinks were several decanters full of fresh blood. His meal tonight would not come from a living being. He poured himself a glass of blood three-quarters full and then added a small bit of sake to it. American alcohol was something he'd never acquired a taste for.

Slowly, he turned back to the revelers, golden eyes piercing through the shadows. A flash of raven's wing hair caught his eye and he froze. It couldn't be! He'd been told by someone he trusted that she was dead. Had been slaughtered by one of the corrupt members of the Blood Council. She was not supposed to be alive.

Kenshin began pushing through the crowd, keeping his eye on the head of long black hair and the smooth curve of one cheekbone. As though sensing his approach, she turned slightly and he saw the rest of her face. It really was her—the same glinting blue eyes that could swallow him whole were slowly glancing over the other attendees.

Then she turned fully and saw him. Just as he had, she seemed to freeze for a moment before turning again and slipping through the people around her. He followed her as quickly as courtesy called for, earning several disapproving glares and sharp words from the vampires around him until they realized who he was. They shrank away from him, clearing a path that allowed him to reach her that much faster.

By the time he'd caught her, they'd left the house for the open-air balcony. She had been caught between two male vamps, only freshly turned and too stupid to realize how powerful she was. They were cornering her against a wall and he could see her fangs bared in anger. He approached the men quietly and quickly, touching each of them on a shoulder as soon as he was close enough to.

The males turned, quite ready to attack whoever was intruding on their fun. Then they realized who he was. He almost smirked as the scrambled away from him.

"Sorry, man," one stuttered, "We didn't realize she was yours."

His eyes narrowed fractionally. "She is no one's. However, you seem to be too foolish to realize that. Shall I teach you a lesson?" he asked as his hand dropped casually on his sword hilt. They set a land speed record in their attempt to get away from him.

He turned towards her, not bothered with the fools. She stared up at him with blank face and hooded eyes, but he could sense her wariness. Her beauty had not left her in the hundred or so years since they'd parted ways. Her face was still statuesque and noble, her eyes still strong, her body still lithe and shapely.

"Hello, Kenshin," she said softly. The simple black dress she wore fluttered in the wind, the feathery material molding to her body.

"Hello, Kaoru."

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru stared up at him and hid her anger. Why did he have to show up now, just as she was ready to wash her hands clean of him for good, no matter how it rent her? Why did he have to stand there in the moonlight and look down at her with such fire?

She backed away from him a few feet to give herself space to gather composure, but he followed her retreat step for step. He had been the one to leave. He had been the one who never bothered to try and find her again. Why was he following her?

"It's been a long time," she stated, trying desperately to keep the bite of anger from her voice.

"It has."

She found herself at a loss and turned outward, to face the sea. It was gilded silver in the light of the moon, waves rolling languorously up the side of the beach. He moved to stand next to her, closer than she was comfortable with.

"I thought you were dead," he said softly.

She snorted. He had never been one to dance around his words. "You were supposed to think that. I worked damn hard to disappear."

"Then why are you here now?"

She did not answer. He hazarded a glance to his side and saw that her eyes were distant, trained on a point and thought that he could not sense. After several long moments, she turned to him and met his eyes. What she saw there was not something she wanted to acknowledge. She nodded to him slightly and whispered, "Goodbye, Battousai." The title on her lips stung him like a wicked wasp, drawing a wealth of pain to the surface at her blatant chill.

His eyes remained trained on her as she slid easily through the crowd. They did not part for her as they had for him, but none dared touch her. Only then did Kenshin feel her power, expanding out from her like a fell cloud and warding away those around her. Without hesitation, he followed her.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru walked alone with her memories. How could so much have changed in less than 150 years? How could she have changed so much in 150 years, when the previous thousand years combined hadn't even touched her appearance, let alone her mind? Unbidden, her thoughts swamped her.

_They had been living together for almost twenty years now, long enough to see the turn of the century. When the change had freed him of his fever, he had had no regrets, something that amazed her to no end. How could someone have no regrets about becoming a creature who lived off the life of others, no better than a parasite? Then she'd learned more about him, about what he had been and what he'd become. Only then had she finally understood. He'd been a monster long before she came along. This was his chance at redemption._

_But of late, he'd changed. He'd become reclusive, hiding behind his curtain of red bangs when he couldn't escape her presence. He would go off for long periods without telling her where he would be. She was no longer his mentor in the underworld, not by any means, but that did not exempt her from worrying about him._

_Then they'd had to flee Japan, his homeland and her home for the last five hundred years. They sought freedom in the ambiguity the West Coast of the United States offered. Who would notice two more immigrants in a land already flooded with foreigners? But someone had noticed._

_Kaoru could still remember when she'd had to face Saitoh Hajime for the first time in six hundred years. The man had barged into her home late in the summer of 1906 and demanded she return to the Blood Council. She had flat out refused every order and threat, knowing well that there was nothing Saitoh could do to her. She surpassed him in both age and power. But then Kenshin had interfered._

_He'd arrived home at the worst possible moment, just as Saitoh was shouting at her about the innumerable human lives she refused to save simply because of her own selfishness. Kenshin, once he'd lost his shock at seeing one of his old enemies of the Bakumatsu, had scared Saitoh off, but not before she saw the whisper of a doubt in his eyes._

_It had been many months before he confronted her about his concerns, long after the great earthquake had driven them into the desolate plains of the Midwest. The argument that had ensued was nothing short of a war. It had ended when he stormed out, declaring that she might be too much of a coward to save lives, but he was not._

_It had been the last time she had seen him personally, though rumors reached her every now and then of a red-haired, golden-eyed demon who was bringing justice to the corrupt vampire world._

Kaoru sighed as she turned down a random street. They had never understood, neither Kenshin nor Saitoh. When she had sat on the Council before, she had made no difference, despite being one of the oldest most powerful vampires. Her comments and orders went unnoticed by vampires more concerned in their own interests than the survival of the vampire community. Saitoh had been one of the few vampires who thought otherwise, but he was also a great deal older than many of the other Council members.

She could not now return to a Council that had destroyed her to begin with. The name of Kamiya Kaoru used to immediately garner respect in the underworld. No one ever uttered it in vain. The Council had destroyed that, ruining her reputation when one of their members broke her, raped her mind and left her bloody and dying in a distant corner of Africa. If Kaoru had not been so close to her homeland she would have died.

As it was, her recovery was long and painful. By the time she returned to the more civilized parts of the world, her name had become synonymous with failure. How could a vampire older than Christianity be killed by some young upstart? In shame, she had slinked to Japan and hidden there until she found Kenshin.

And now she was alone in the world, a shell of a woman, drifting through the nights and flickering like a guttering candle. Kaoru reached the destination she'd been unconsciously aiming for. This bridge held many memories. She and Kenshin had once stood here, underneath the light of a waning moon. He had kissed her and for the first time in four hundred years, she'd thought that perhaps her life was worth living again. And then, Saitoh had arrived the very next night, destroying that small hope as efficiently as he dealt with anyone that opposed him.

Kaoru leaned against the railing and stared down into the black waters of San Francisco Bay. She felt hypnotized and found herself leaning out further. What would happen, if she simply fell? Would anyone notice…or even care? Would the fall kill her?

She shook her head and leaned further forward, a small bitter smile alighting on her lips. The fall would not kill her. She would not drown. The sun did not burn her flesh as so many old tales claimed. No…for her there was no end.

Softly she sighed, even as he felt his presence come closer. "Hello again, Kenshin."

oOoOoOoOo

When she acknowledged him, he emerged fully from the shadows. He'd somehow known she would sense him. He moved to casually lean next to her against the rail. The memories of this bridge were not lost on him. He thought back briefly on that single kiss between them, before everything had shattered. That night, he'd thought himself lucky to be with her. His image of her had been naïve—a vision of a pure angel of darkness, untouched by the evils of the world around him. The night after, he learned that even she was not clean of blood.

"What were you doing?" he asked softly.

She answered truthfully. "I was wondering if the fall would kill me."

His eyebrows rose in surprise, though the rest of his face remained impassive. Suicide? What could possibly be so horrible that she wanted to end her life in this world? He almost asked her, but instead, picked a different, subtler question.

"And what if it could?"

She smiled in a way that conveyed no humor. "Perhaps the world would be a little better then."

Kenshin bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at her. Instead, he drew the anger into his words and hoped that the burning emotion stung her as much as it did him. "It would not be better. Death never makes the world a better place. Your suicide would accomplish nothing."

"So says the merchant of death."

The anger subsided only slightly before doubling, taking the small amount of shame she'd made him feel and feeding it to his inner fire. "And what would you know? You who cause death simply by your inaction."

"I am not the ruler of the Council and they are not my responsibility. I did my duty and no one listened. Now they may pay the price."

Kenshin stared at her with rage seething beneath the surface veiled only by a thin layer of shock. This was not the Kaoru her remembered so vividly, the woman who had once thrown his umbrella into a trash can simply so she could dance in the rain. When had she become the shell that stood before him?

Through clenched teeth he asked, "And what would your suicide accomplish for you?"

"The means to an end."

He clenched his fist tightly in an effort to keep from grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. "Why would you want to end your life? Why would you throw it away so carelessly when there are hundreds of thousands who would sell their soul to have what you have?"

This time, her smile was mocking. "You are so very young, Kenshin," she murmured before speaking a little louder. "Do you have any idea how old I am?"

The question caught him so off guard that all he could do was shake his head.

She turned away from him, back to the oceans. "I lived to see the shogunate destroyed. I was there to witness the rebirth of Europe from the Dark Ages. I witnessed Charlamegne conquer Europe. I saw the fall of the mighty Romans. I lived before anyone had ever heard of a prophet named Christ. I sat under the scorching sands of Egypt and watched Alexander take over the world. And I saw the infamous Pharaoh Tutankhamun on his deathbed. I am 3,452 years old Kenshin. I know of no one who would sell their soul to see what I have seen."

She turned to him slowly and all he could do was stare in to her eyes—the eyes he had fist glimpsed eternity in. "I am beyond my time, Kenshin. There is no place I haven't seen, nothing I haven't done. I have lost all purpose to live, my _ikigai_."

Kenshin's anger flowed out of his blood in a veritable avalanche. Her pain was something tangible and utterly forlorn. It made his heart hurt simply to think about it. He turned out to sea, trying to absorb what she'd told him. She remained facing him, her head bent slightly. Suddenly, she seemed very old, not just in actual age but also in appearance, even though there was not a single wrinkle on her face.

"Do you know," he said quietly after many long minutes had passed, "I was in love with you?"

She looked at him sharply, her eyes meeting his with sudden fear and apprehension. He went on without looking at her.

"I realized when you had just completed training me and we had traveled to Tokyo to celebrate. It was Tanabata and you teased me because I hadn't gotten you a gift. To get back at you, I grabbed your hand and ran through the streets with you. We stopped on a bridge and I looked over. You were so beautiful in the moonlight, with your cheeks flushed and your eyes sparkling. That was when I realized I never wanted to leave your side."

He looked at her then, eyes burning with an emotion Kaoru didn't dare name.

"But you did," she said quickly. "You left when we came to the States."

He looked away again, staring at his hands as he considered how to answer. "I left because I was a fool. It was just like with my first teacher. I was unwilling, in my youthful impetuosity, to admit that you had more experience in such matters and you probably had the right of it. Also, I had this image of you in my mind, of this clean, innocent being and that image was ruined for me. It took my years away from you to realize that everyone is stained in some ways."

Kaoru might have laughed if he hadn't been speaking in such a serious way. Had he truly thought of her in such a manner? It seemed so unlikely, and yet she knew he spoke the truth.

Kenshin turned back to her. "Kaoru, you should know something." His eyes were shining with that same emotion and Kaoru wanted to shrink away from him. He'd already hurt her once and she had no desire to feel that same biting pain a second time.

"In my time away from you, I did a lot of growing up. When I heard you'd died, I wanted nothing more than to find out who had slain you and cut their heart out. Only when I understood that, did I know that I was still in love with you…am still in love with you.

"To see you this way is painful to me. You are wrong when you say no one would care. I care. And to know that you would willingly throw away your life if you could…that makes me want to grab hold of you and shake some sense into you. If a reason for living is what you require, then let me give it to you. Let me be your _ikigai_."

He was close now, so close she could feel his breath fanning across her face. On it she could smell the tantalizing hint of the blood he'd consumed earlier that night. His personal scent enveloped her, reminding her of when the world had still been wild and untamed by the hand of humans. Part of her really wanted to take his words at face value and throw herself into his arms, but it was a very small part.

"Kenshin, you and I walk very different paths now. You are a hound of the Blood Council. I am a vampire who is not supposed to exist. Saitoh knows I'm alive, but he will not speak unless I step forward to claim my Council seat. I can't do that."

"Why not?" he demanded, trying very hard to keep from touching her.

"Because of what the Council did to me. They destroyed me, Kenshin. They tried to kill me because I was too powerful for them to control through bribery and tricks.

"Beyond that, I refuse to belong to such a twisted and corrupt organization. You know as well as I do how warped they have all become, save Saitoh, perhaps. To belong to that… You become what you surround yourself with, Kenshin. Even after 3,000 years, I am not above their influence. They can taint me just as easily as they taint the NewBloods."

She backed a few steps away from him, studying his face and tracking the emotions there. There was anger certainly, but there was also regret and pain. He did not like hearing this. Part of her enjoyed what she was doing to him. That he had lived 150 years and maintained his scant optimism was something she envied and part of her wanted to rip that from him. The other part of her was screaming silently at her own stupidity. She had to leave before that part won out.

"We are of different worlds now, Kenshin. And while that is true…I am alone in this world just as much as you are. Even if you break free of their influence we will still be worlds apart. I cannot be with you Kenshin, anymore than I am able to kill myself."

With those words she turned and began to walk away. Her power gathered around her until it was almost visible, cloaking her form in an eerie ghost light. Kenshin shouted unintelligibly and ran to catch hold of her, but her form was already only ectoplasm. He watched as the image of her glowed for a moment before beginning to fade. A wind kicked up, blowing off the icy black waves. It struck the image with ferocity and ripped the vision to pieces. Kenshin watched in despair as she floated out of his life once again, a single tattered cloud born by the wind.

Glossary type thing:

tenshi: heavenly being

Ishin Shishi: the faction Kenshin fought for during the revolution; opposed the shogunate

Battousai: Kenshin's alias during the war; literally means master of deadly sword drawing

Tanabata: also called the Star Festival; a time when, according to Japanese legend, the stars Altair and Vega, normally separated in the sky, meet; very romantic, ne?

ikigai: literally one's reason for living (and by far the coolest Japanese word I know)

_A/N: This story is, as yet, not complete. However, know that I will NEVER, ever leave a story unfinished. That is one thing I cannot do to you people. However, I cannot guarantee lengths between updates. I'm hoping to have chapter two ready by the first week of February. Again, no guarantees. My author page has been updated. Also, if you like my writing, I hope to have another story out real soon called "The Things he carried." It's a modern day fic based on the life of a soldier who has finally returned after three years fighting in the war, and yes, it will be RK. Until then, enjoy this little semi-dark fantasy. As always, thanks for reading._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Look! Just like I promised, it is up and this is the first week of February. Go me! Forgive grammar mistakes because the last quarter of this chapter was rewritten in a sudden attack of plot bunnies and probably should be edited more than it has been. Rated T for vampiric activities. Enjoy!_

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 2**

Slowly, Kenshin stretched away from the files cluttering his desk. Ever since that night eight months ago, he'd been searching for her in all his spare time. He'd called in his old friend Aoshi to help out. The spy and assassin was only too willing to help, providing every rumor he found of a female vampire with infinite power and raven hair.

This latest information was no less promising than anything else Kenshin had already received. It was insubstantial at best—a report on a beautiful vampire wandering the Riviera and stirring up a little local interest. The only photograph Aoshi had managed to find was from a distance and poorly focused.

Again Kenshin touched the face in the photo, wondering for the thousandth time, _Are you here, Kaoru? Is this where you hide from me?_

He was becoming desperate. She was all he could think of. During the day, her face haunted him, causing him to search everywhere for her hair, her eyes, her lips. Always he was turning to glance at a woman he'd spotted out of the corner of his eyes, hoping and then being disappointed when he discovered it was not her.

His preoccupation was affecting him on the job. Saitoh had commented the other day that he had barely managed to eliminate the most recent wild vamp. And what really got on Kenshin's nerves was that the wolfish man was right. One more mistake on Kenshin's part in that last fight and he probably would have died.

Even in sleep he could not escape her. More often than not, he dreamed memories, reminiscing over better days. But every dream always ended with that same cold dismissal and he woke in his bed sweating and chilled.

With sudden resolve, Kenshin decided to call upon his last and least favorite resource. He rooted his cell phone out of the clutter on his desk and dialed the long distance operator, requesting a patch to Germany. The German operator answered in turn and he gave her the number he needed. All too soon, the other line was ringing in his ear.

His heart jumped when the line clicked open and a gruff voice demanded, "What exactly is it you want, baka deshi?"

oOoOoOoOo

"Always to the point, aren't you, shishou?"

"I told you I didn't want to hear from you again unless it was absolutely necessary."

"I'm trying to find someone."

"NO! Absolutely not. I refuse to help you with that moronic job you took for the Council. Go to hell you little…"

"Shishou! This isn't for the Council. This is for me. I…I need to find her."

There was silence on the other line for a moment. "'Her'?"

Kenshin almost growled. "Yes, her."

"So you finally got over that other one dying, then?"

"No, shishou. It's the same woman. She staged her death."

"Ah. Continue."

"I saw her about eight months ago, but she ran from me. She's all I've been focusing on in my free time."

"And you still haven't found her? She _must_ be good."

Kenshin felt an inner satisfaction at his shishou's unintentional compliment, but turned to other, more important matters.

"Shishou, you're old enough. Perhaps you've met her before. Kamiya Kaoru?"

The line was silent for a very long time. "Yes," he answered at last. "I know her."

"Have you heard any rumors of her? Anything hinting at her whereabouts."

Again, the line was silent. Finally Hiko said, "How much does she mean to you?"

"I would rebel against the Council if she asked it of me."

Hiko was quiet and Kenshin sensed he was not satisfied.

"Please, shishou. I'm not looking for her just for my own reasons. I fear for her life. The last time I saw her, she was…not herself. It was as though the life had been drained out of her. She was…a shell. I am afraid she might try to destroy herself."

"Hmmmm." Kenshin waited, not even breathing as his shishou deliberated. "Are you in love with her?" The question was abrupt, but Kenshin did not hesitate. "Unquestionably."

"She passed through here not too long ago and visited me. She told me she would be hiding out in Transylvania. In fact, she told me the irony of it appealed to her. She was planning on staying for at least a year. She was through these parts two months ago. I'd guess that she's somewhere right around border country, up in the mountains where the humans dare not go. Is that enough information for you?"

Kenshin could not stop his wide grin. "Yes, shishou. Thank you very much."

"Don't mention it. Just make sure I don't hear from you for the next fifty years or until you cut your damn ties with that stupid Council."

The line went dead in Kenshin's head and he immediately began dialing Aoshi's number.

oOoOoOoOo

Kenshin stared around at the gray landscape of the desolate mountains. This place had been abandoned by humans long ago and the chill world was slowly reclaiming the small stone huts that had once dotted the landscape. The tang of old blood was strong and beckoning in the air, reminding him of why the humans had abandoned this world. He felt Aoshi approach from behind him, followed quickly by a bouncing and energetic young vamp who had somehow wormed her way into the cold okashira's heart.

Kenshin had first met Makimachi Misao on a return trip to Japan. She'd been tracking the same vamp he was intent on slaying. The loose vamp had murdered her entire family; she'd just been lucky enough to be out of the house. Kenshin had found them just as the vamp was sucking the last of her blood out of her body. Once the loose one was disposed of, Kenshin had immediately changed the girl. In her, he had sensed a determination to live that rivaled his own and for that, he admired her. He had left her in Aoshi's care assuming the spy would give her a good grounding in the lessons of the underworld. He had never expected the romance that had sparked between them like lightning on dry kindling.

Aoshi drew even with Kenshin and halted, his trench coat flowing in the biting wind. "Supposedly, she came by this way not long ago. The local informant told me he thought she was headed for the abandoned castle farther up the mountain."

"What are we waiting for?" cried Misao as she rushed past them, darting from rock outcropping to precipice like a fluttering moth. Aoshi shook his head before following, gliding along the ground like a shadow after his lover. Kenshin watched the two in bewilderment for a moment before following, clinging the shadows and moving as though he were flying.

They traveled quickly. Misao was sensitive to the presence of other vampires and always knew when she was within a mile of any, even if they were hiding their ki. Aoshi and Kenshin were relying on her to tell them when they were getting close. Twilight was drawing around the mountains like a thick blue blanket when Misao suddenly halted, her nose in the air like a hound scenting a quarry.

"Have you found her?" Kenshin asked, trying to keep the impatience from his voice. He'd expected to find her long ago, believing Kaoru would feel safe enough to move freely this far from civilization.

"I've found someone. They're very far away, but they don't seem to be moving."

Without warning, she took off, changing their course so they no longer followed the worn foot path along the face of the mountain. Kenshin hesitated for only a moment before following. Aoshi glanced around, feeling the inklings of suspicion on the back of his neck. Something seemed…not right. But he was unsure what. Carefully, he loosened his kodachi in their sheath before slipping off after Misao and Kenshin.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru shifted in her chair, lifting her eyes from her book to scan the horizon visible out the window. The sun was setting, sending a wash of red across the mountains. The color reminded her of his hair. Quickly, she shook the thought from her head. She could feel ki approaching. Whoever was coming was very strong. She had feared this. One of the local vampires had managed to sense her before she could escape his range. He had squealed on the strange, ancient vampire passing through his territory.

She slid a bookmark into the thick tome in her lap before setting it aside on a dusty, ragged table. Such a strong presence would take preparation to destroy. Kaoru drew herself from the chair, stretching her muscles in a way that did absolutely nothing to relieve her tense joints. Even after three thousand years her human habits still died hard.

Slowly, she stalked to her small pack and dug through it, searching for her small ivory dagger and its matching onyx partner. They were remnants of the ancient days. The wise Egyptians had spelled them against vampire kind. Even with all the power Kaoru had amassed over the years, the daggers still burned her bare skin. Lovingly she stroked the stone and hieroglyphics, ignoring her stinging fingers. If she concentrated, she could still decipher what half the words meant.

She sheathed the daggers at her hips and drew a ball point pen from a zippered pocket. With the pen, she began sketching symbols across the back of her hand up her wrist. Giving an unnecessary flourish, she closed off the last design and flicked her fingers experimentally. Lightning sparked at her fingertips, leaping at the small and unfortunate lamp that had first caught her attention. The lamp flared white hot for a moment before melting into a molten puddle on the floor. Kaoru watched with morbid satisfaction as the liquid metal began sizzling through the wooden floor. Kaoru focused on her approaching company. The vampire was very close now. She glanced at the lamp again. Whoever was after her, they were in for an unpleasant surprise.

oOoOoOoOo

Misao approached the crumbling castle carefully. Its molding portcullis hung threateningly over the entrance, giving a sense of foreboding that did not pass from the girl as she continued into the courtyard. Everywhere brambles crawled up the sides of the castle, tearing into the very stones as though they were no more than sheets of paper. Misao paused for a moment, awed by all that time could do to destroy an entity. Staring upon the castle, she began to understand what Kenshin had meant when he said Kaoru was dying even though she was immortal. Simply because time does not ravage the body does not mean it also leaves the mind untouched.

Misao's pause was all that was needed for Kaoru to have the young vampire at knife point. Aoshi and Kenshin had expected this action and prepared Misao for it. She held perfectly still now, staring Kaoru in the eye and lifting her chin slightly so that her throat was bared—a universal sign of submission in the vampire world.

Kaoru stared at the young woman before her almost apathetically. "Why have you trespassed here?"

"Please. I'm young. I only sought protection for the night." Misao pleaded softly. Her act was well rehearsed and rolled off her tongue without a single hitch. Kaoru's gaze sharpened, as though trying to see into the young one's very soul.

"Can you swear to me by your true name that you mean no harm to me?"

"I can."

"Do so and you may roost with me for the night. Perhaps longer if you don't bother me too much."

Misao opened her mouth and started softly chanting in the ancient language of the immortal, something every vampire knew instinctively the moment they crossed the barrier of death. The words rolled off her tongue in sounds of gravel and fire and water, of wind rushing through the trees and lions roaring in their dens. It seemed to shake the very foundations of the earth around them, startling birds from their nests and making small game run for cover. When she finished chanting, Kaoru withdrew her knives.

"You're more powerful than I suspected. Who taught you?"

"A spy named Shinomori Aoshi."

Kaoru did not miss the warm spark that bloomed in the girl's eyes. "You care for him a great deal?"

"You have no idea."

Slowly, the older vampire turned away. "I'll show you where you sleep, young one. What is your name?"

"It's Makimachi Misao," the girl declared with a smile so brilliant it made Kaoru's lips twitch.

"I'm Yukishiro Tokio." Kaoru inwardly smiled as she thought of her sources of inspiration for her false name—Kenshin's only lover from when he was human and Saitoh's formidable wife.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tokio. Thank you for your sanctuary."

"It was not a problem."

Kaoru led Misao through the ancient passageways, pushing through cobwebs and layers of dust that returned to their original positions after the women had passed. Misao watched the webs knit themselves back together behind her and gulped. Kenshin had told her that Kaoru was powerful, but she had not expected this. The woman did not seem to even be consciously working to repair the things she damaged behind her.

"This is where I've been sleeping," said Kaoru as she pointed into the room where the molten lamp was slowly cooling. "You may nest with me if you like, or there is a suitable bedroom right next door." She indicated a room with a door rotting off its hinges. Misao moved forward and poked her head into the bedroom.

A magnificent and tragic four poster bed dominated the room. Tattered silks hung in curtains around the bed. The mattress had been split open by some animal who had taken refuge in the castle years ago. Feathers spread over the rust red bedding in wisps and spirals of angelic fluff. Dust hung thick in the air, tickling at her nose without ever making her sneeze. Something about the room immediately warned Misao away. She could smell blood here. Something horrible had happened here long ago. She turned back to Kaoru.

"I'll nest with you tonight, if you don't mind."

The older vampire gave a bare hint of a smile, as though Misao had just passed some important test. "That's fine." Without another word, Kaoru turned back into her room and went to her chair, picking up her ancient book and beginning to read again. Misao wandered around the room, studying the rotting furniture and the volumes of books that were dripping crumbling bits of paper onto the floor. Carefully, she sat on the floor and began drawing archaic symbols in the dust, studying Kaoru from under her eyelashes.

The vampiress was just as Kenshin described. She was beautiful and powerful, but her eyes were dead and hollow. They were vast expanses of blue that threatened to suck Misao in without a single thought. Looking at Kaoru in her surroundings of grand opulence fallen into decay, she could not help but think that the settings fit.

After an interminable amount of time, Kaoru glanced up. "Are you aware that you've written 'squirrels will rule the world when man kind loses his nuts' in the dust?" Misao looked down into the dust with bewilderment for a moment before slamming her hand into the designs and scattering them. She looked back up with a wide grin.

"Sorry, Tokio. Sometimes I don't pay attention to what I'm doing."

Kaoru stared for a moment and Misao thought the woman might actually laugh, but the moment passed and Kaoru again became impassive and stony.

"Have you fed recently?"

The question surprised Misao and she was at a loss for words. She slowly shook her head and Kaoru rose without a word. "Then we shall hunt. I'm hungry."

Misao watched the calculating look in Kaoru's eye and wondered if the vampiress had detected Kenshin and Aoshi, despite their wards. She rose without question though, and followed Kaoru out the window, dropping the three stories to the ground without blinking.

"Tell me Misao, are you fond of venison?"

A predatory glint appeared in the young vampire's eye. "I love venison."

oOoOoOoOo

When they finished their hunt they returned to the castle. With every passing minute, Misao felt a little more anxious. Kenshin and Aoshi had never specified when they'd be coming tonight, or even if they would move tonight at all. To try and ease her nerves, she began talking to Kaoru.

"Tokio?"

Though Kaoru said nothing and did not move from her position at the window, Misao sensed she immediately had the vampiress' attention.

"When I came, you made me swear in the old language that I meant you no harm. Why?"

The answer to the question was base knowledge in the vampire world and Misao was playing the part of a fledgling. Every vampire also viewed this old magic differently. As one of the most ancient vampires alive, Misao wanted to here Kaoru's take.

The older vampiress turned and studied her for a moment, dead blue eyes reflecting eerily by the light of a waning moon. "You really are quite young, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Misao without hesitation or embarrassment. She spoke the truth and was more eager for the conversation to continue.

"In the old vampire tongue it is impossible to lie, especially when you swear by your true name."

"Why?"

Kaoru seemed startled by the question, as though no other vampire had ever asked her before. Maybe they hadn't. She contemplated for a such a long time that Misao wondered if she would answer at all. Finally she said, "Follow my train of thought with me. Vampires are the highest life forms on the planet. We're more powerful than any other animal that exists. The only reason we don't multiply as humans have is because we would exhaust our food sources due to our efficiency.

"Now, with the knowledge that on this planet, nothing can compete with us, how then do we govern ourselves? What's to stop us from doing whatever we want? Supposedly, that is the job of the Blood Council, but they are as corrupt as human government officials. The answer then, is the ancient language.

"As I understand it, when vampires first evolved, they were far more gifted than we are now. The humans would call these gifts magic. Those earliest vampires had the ability to change the very nature of the world around them—such laws as gravity and conservation of matter could be ignored with the proper means to manipulate them. These first vampires were wise and understood the need to control these powers, so they gathered and bent the very rules of the world to create the ancient language. They imbued the language with power all its own, ensuring that any who spoke in it would always speak truthfully, to help keep the language from being utilized for evil purposes.

"Of course, even the wisest cannot predict all events in the future. Many of our race have found ways to work around this barrier. It's almost trivial for them to word their sentences in truth while still holding ill intent. That's why I asked you to say something so straight-forward. Otherwise you might have sworn to me something like 'I mean you no harm for the next five seconds.' For that matter, I suppose you could have been thinking that, but you're young. I assume you're mastery of manipulation of the language is limited."

Misao stared in interest at the woman before her. Not even Aoshi had ever explained the language so well to her. She was struck with a sudden desire to know more.

"What else can you teach me?"

Kaoru stared blankly at her for a moment, her dead eyes showing a spark of surprise. Then she laughed. "Young one, Misao, I like you to be sure. You're bright. But I will not teach you. I will never raise another fledgling again."

Misao felt a wave of disappointment, but her curiosity pressed her on. "Why not?"

Kaoru's face became suddenly cold. "Do not inquire of things that are not your business," she stated cruelly before turning away to stare out at the moon.

Misao shrank from the ice in the woman's voice. Now she had glimpsed the fate Kenshin so feared. Kaoru had shut herself away from the world—was in fact slowly shutting down every emotional capacity she had. Without emotion, what would be left? The answer chilled Misao. An unfeeling killer.

oOoOoOoOo

The moon had long ago set when Misao felt ki flare to life not far from the castle. To her, the ki was familiar and comforting. To others, it would feel like the ki of something insignificant—a dog or some other medium sized animal. Misao glanced at Kaoru. The woman had fallen into the catatonic state that vampires considered sleeping and she did not seem to have noticed the ki. With the utmost care, Misao rose and disappeared from the room.

In short order, she'd crossed the hills and found Aoshi. He was leaning against a tree, blue eyes glowing like chinks of ice in the darkness. She promptly threw herself into his arms and kissed him. He seemed surprised but complied as he sensed desperation behind her kiss. The absolute coldness Misao had felt from Kaoru had left her desperate for someone who was still alive on the inside, even if he didn't show it outwardly.

When they broke away, Kenshin materialized from the shadows. He was smirking at them slightly, but refrained from saying anything. Misao promptly dropped from Aoshi's arms and met both men's eyes.

"What did you think?" asked Kenshin.

"She was just like you said. Everything on the inside is dying. The only time I got a reaction from her that wasn't indifferent was when I asked her why she'd never train another fledgling. I'd assume she was thinking of you when she snapped at me."

Kenshin nodded, his eyes distant and contemplating. "What else?" he said absently.

"She's on guard. She had a knife to my throat the moment I stepped onto the grounds. The knives she had feel enchanted. She also had a spell sketched on her hand. I don't think you're going to be able to talk to her without having her tied up."

Kenshin seemed to consider this information for a long time. Aoshi and Misao remained quiet waiting for him to come up with a plan of sorts. "I agree with you, Misao," he said at last. "We're going to have to detain her somehow before I even try to get close to her. Do either of you have any suggestions?"

Aoshi spoke immediately. "I have a drug that, when mixed with her next meal, would render her unconscious for quite some time."

"Would she be able to detect it?"

"I've tested it on all of the Oniwabanshu. Not one of them realized their food was drugged until they started feeling groggy."

"Still, Kaoru is more powerful than all of your ninja combined. Would the poison fool her?"

Aoshi frowned for a moment. "I don't honestly know. The poison is natural, not magical. It is odorless and tasteless. All the vampires I've used it on so far have never noticed it in their food. However, none of them have even compared to Kaoru in power. However, we have no other alternatives."

"Then we'll have to try. Misao, do you think she trusts you enough to take a meal that you offered her?"

"I'm positive of it," said Misao with enthusiasm. "She seems to think I'm naïve about the ways of the vampire world."

"Alright, then all we need to do is get the drug."

"Already taken care of," said Aoshi as he dug into his trench coat. His hand emerged with a small ornate glass bottle. Wire roses twisted around the faceted, red glass and a thick sticky potion was visible through the sides.

"Perfect," said Kenshin, smiling enough that his fangs dropped past his lower lip. "Misao, I think Kaoru would probably be in the mood for some rabbit this morning."

Misao took off without question and returned hardly two minutes later bearing a brace of fat rabbits. Aoshi took the silver-haired rabbit from her and uncorked the bottle, passing his fingers over the glass as he tested the ingredients with magic. When he was satisfied, he looked up at Misao. She began shielding his presence without question so that the magic he was about to work would not attract Kaoru. The okashira began to mutter as he turned the bottle upside down over the rabbit. The potion emerged as a mist and gathered around the rabbit's hide before slowly sinking downward. Aoshi continued to murmur until he was sure that the blood had been saturated with the potion. He rocked back on his heels and looked back up at Misao. She removed her ward and lifted the rabbit.

"We'll be near. Send out a magical message when she's out and we'll bind her up."

Misao nodded and began trotting down the hill, desperately trying to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

oOoOoOoOo

Misao slipped into the room silently, though she knew Kaoru was awake and therefore aware of her presence. Without pause, the young vampire crossed the floor and set the rabbit down before Kaoru, uncaring of the motes of dust she raised with her movements.

"I know we just fed last night, but I was hungry again and thought you might be too."

Kaoru glanced sideways towards the young girl. Misao was already retreating to her corner to enjoy her own meal.

"It's been so long," Kaoru said softly, "since I was around a youngling. I'd forgotten how often you get hungry." She looked again at the rabbit sprawled on the table before her, its eyes wide and dull. "Thank you for your consideration."

Misao mumbled something, but she had already began drinking from the rabbit and was hardly intelligible. Kaoru sank her fangs into the tender flesh of the neck and began drinking slowly. Rabbit always tasted strongly to her and she drank it like she would drink a vintage wine—something to be savored.

At long last, the rabbit was dry and Kaoru set its carcass aside, though she was tempted to throw it out the window for the scavengers. Misao had finished her rabbit long ago and was already scanning the bookshelves in hopes of finding something written in a language she could understand.

"Do you mind if I stay here a while?" she said, though her eyes didn't stray from the titles.

Kaoru opened her mouth to try and speak, but her tongue felt heavy and dry. She swallowed and tried again but her blurring vision distracted her.

"Tokio?" Misao asked. Her voice sounded very far away.

Black roses were blooming across Kaoru's eyes now. Somewhere deep inside she realized she'd been drugged. Her ability to move was quickly draining. Misao had turned and was near; Kaoru could sense her. With a last effort of strength, she opened her mouth and willed her tongue to move in the proper manner. The word she uttered made the air flash as though lightning had gone off and the smell of ozone permeated the air. Kaoru could feel the magic washing through her veins, burning away the poison.

As the magic faded away, Kaoru found her ability to move returning. She wriggled her fingers experimentally before slowly rising and cracking her knuckles. Misao cowered in the corner and flinched at the sound of air rushing through joints. Slowly, Kaoru turned her predatory gaze on the girl, her blue eyes filling with silver as rage started to simmer through her blood.

"Tell me, Misao, where did you get those rabbits?"

Though Kaoru's voice was soft, a hard edge was hidden beneath the velvet, a knife carefully hidden away and ready to strike.

"I…I…" the girl stuttered, unable to think past the fear that was clouding her mind. Though part of her reaction was an act, Misao was genuinely afraid. She had had faith that Aoshi's drug would do the trick. She hadn't expected to have to deal with an ancient, raging vampire.

"Did a vampire with long red hair give it to you?"

Relief immediately started to trickle through Misao's veins. Perhaps she would live through this after all.

"Y…yes…" she whispered, trying to draw into the stone wall as though she would pass right through it. Her attention suddenly focused elsewhere as she felt a familiar burst of ki somewhere outside the castle. Kenshin and Aoshi had felt Kaoru's power and were on their way.

Kaoru's eyes blazed a pure and shining silver. Misao looked in wonder at the sparkling depths. The only other vampire whose eyes she had ever seen change color were Kenshin's. She had assumed it had to do with his power levels. Now part of her wondered if this eyes weren't keyed into emotion as well.

"So he found me," Kaoru murmured. She surely must have also sensed Kenshin and Aoshi. "You tell him something for me, Misao." Kaoru stalked closer, her gait smooth and predatory. "Tell him that if he should ever try and interfere with my life again, I will disembowel him and leave his heart out for the crows to pick at."

Misao's eyes widened at the cruel threat. She had known Kaoru would be angry, but not to the point of threatening Kenshin's life. She had been under the impression that, though Kaoru hated Kenshin she also loved him.

"Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Kaoru whispered as she leaned in towards the young vampire.

Misao could not quite find a voice to answer, so she simply nodded, her body trembling violently beneath the old vampire's gaze.

"Excellent," Kaoru hissed, her fangs dipping beneath her lip to glint in the light of morning. Kaoru's shape became indistinct, the lines that so clearly defined her body wavering in the rays of the sun. Quite suddenly, her form dispersed, as though she had been a soap bubble and someone had popped her.

oOoOoOoOo

When Kenshin and Aoshi arrived in the room, Kaoru was long gone and Misao was slumped against the wall, looking as though she'd just lived through a hurricane. Aoshi immediately crossed the room and lifted the young girl up in his arms. It was a supreme effort of will on Kenshin's part not to simply barrage Misao with questions. He gave the girl a moment before quietly asking what had happened.

Misao blinked dazedly up into golden eyes before slowly telling him, including as many details as she remembered. Her tongue fumbled on Kaoru's threat, but she delivered it none the less. Kenshin's face went blank and cold. Both Aoshi and Misao watched suspiciously as the redhead turned away from them.

"Go home, you two," he ordered them before disappearing out the door.

"Where are you going?" Aoshi demanded as he rushed after Kenshin down the hallway.

"I'm going to get her. She traveled a long way with her spell. She'll be exhausted and the only person I can think of that she would go to is in Germany. If I hurry, I can be there before she recovers her energy."

"We're coming with you," Aoshi said stubbornly, almost running to keep up with the smaller man.

"No, you are not," Kenshin said as he came to a halt suddenly. He rounded on them, visibly shaking and Aoshi nearly backed away from the rage he felt broiling in the other vampire.

"She could have killed Misao," Kenshin continued, growling out his words. "I will not have anything happening to either of you simply because I was stupid enough to underestimate her. "Now go home."

Without another word, Kenshin whirled and stalked away, power drawing up around him in a shadowy cloak. He reached the window at the end of the hallway and jumped out, his power and superhuman strength making him almost fly out before he gradually fell to the earth. He had disappeared into the day before Aoshi even reached the window.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru slowly materialized in the forest. It took a supreme effort of will to pull herself together. At one point, a sudden wind nearly made her lose sight of her true form. But finally, she was whole and intact on a nearly invisible pathway. Stumbling, she pushed through the underbrush and into the clearing around a house. There was a man already waiting for her just outside the house.

He moved forward with smooth, easy strides and lifted her up just as her knees gave way. She glared up at the man, noting that he was, as always, immaculately kept.

"I can't believe you told him where I was," she growled at Hiko Seijiro, attempting to lift her hand to strike his shoulder and failing miserably. The tall man chuckled as he turned back to his house.

"You didn't honestly think I'd lie to my baka deshi, did you?"

"I know you wouldn't lie to him; I just thought you wouldn't tell him anything at all," she mumbled asexhaustion began to pull her into unconsciousness.

"It was for your own good," he told her as he deposited her in his guest bed.

"When I have enough strength, Hiko, you and I are going to have a long discussion, and not all of it will be talk."

Hiko simply laughed again as he backed out of the room. "Whatever you say, Kaoru. Whatever you say."

Glossary type thing:

baka deshi: idiot pupil (Hiko's nickname for Kenshin)

shishou: teacher, master

okashira: Aoshi's title as leader of the Oniwabanshu

kodachi: Japanese sword that is shorter than a katana, but longer than a wakazashi; specialized for defense, but Aoshi has developed a double kodachi style that allows him to use them offensively (I don't know why I included this word, since if you know the universe of RK, you know what they are)

_A/N: Due to the new rule about reviewer responses, I will be posting my response to my one reviewer (bows to reviewer) on my livejournal. A link can be found on my author's page. In the mean time, I don't know when the next update will be, but I am shooting for the end of the month, especially since I will have time to write, what with my wisdom teeth removal keeping me homebound and a five day weekend after that. Until then, thanks for reading._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: This was written in only three days, even though I've supposedly been working on it since my last chapter. What can I say, I'm a horrible liar. This was supposed to be posted Monday.However, ff . net had different ideas.Please forgive the lateness.It occurs to me that I've been forgetting my disclaimers, so here it is, loud and clear: Kenshin is mine and will be mine until the day I die. …Ok, clearly the cop reading over my shoulder says differently. Kenshin is not mine and will never be mine; I just like to borrow without returning every once and a while. Oh yes! Rated T for vampiric activities. Rating may be upped next chapter (hint, hint.)_

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 3**

Hiko was waiting for Kenshin when the redhead appeared around midnight on his doorstep, buried deep in one of the few forests left in Germany. The young man emerged from the shadows, though the shadows seemed reluctant to release him and clung to his shoulders as the moonlight touched his lithe frame.

Hiko stood and placed himself squarely in front of the door as the first waves of his pupil's rage hit him.

"Where is she?" growled Kenshin, coming to a halt before the taller man and boldly meeting sloe black eyes with his own burning gold ones.

"She's inside, in the guest room," Hiko answered, disgustingly calm as always.

Kenshin made to move past Hiko, but the larger man did not budge. He kept his ground and fixed his pupil with a glare that was meant to make the younger vampire submit. Kenshin refused to do so, aiming instead to move to a nearby window. Hiko responded by grabbing the redhead by his shoulder and bodily pushing the man into a chair just outside the doorway.

"You're not going in there until you've calmed down. She's still recovering."

"If I go in there calm, I won't be able to get angry at her," Kenshin hissed.

A frown marred Hiko's chiseled face. "And you want to be angry at her because…"

"She threatened a friend of mine. She could have killed Misao. This battle is between her and me. She had no right to threaten an innocent."

"Was the girl helping you?"

Kenshin glared up for a moment before averting his eyes and attempting to burn a hole into the ground with his anger.

"That's what I thought. Kaoru was justified, if a little harsh. That woman has suffered a lot, especially from you. I don't blame her for being a little edgy."

"I do," Kenshin shot back. "I know she suffered, but she, of all people, is smart enough to know that wallowing in her own self-pity and the pain she inflicts on others will only draw her deeper into the pit she's made for herself."

"She does know that," Hiko said softly, surprising Kenshin into silence. "She told you herself," he continued, "she doesn't want to exist anymore. Since she cannot kill herself, this is the quickest way to bring death upon herself—create enemies capable of killing her. If she does that, she can leave this world."

Kenshin sighed, the anger rushing out of him suddenly as he felt the drain of running several hundred miles. It was entirely too hard to maintain his rage any longer. "I just don't understand why she has lost the will to live. I…I know I'm part of it. But if I'm willing to make reparations to her, why is she not healing."

"Because she's afraid," Hiko answered simply, seating himself on the front step of his home. "She knows you left her once and that knowledge makes her fear you'll leave her again. Combine that fear with all she has already endured and she starts to lose sight of the important things."

A cold voice effectively cut Hiko off. "Well, aren't we all just the world's next Freud? Clearly you have analyzed my entire life and will now proceed to tell me all the things to make it right again."

Both men looked apprehensively up at the black haired woman supporting herself against the door jam. Kaoru glared back down at them, her eyes taking an eerie silver cast in the moonlight.

"How dare you?" she hissed, anger roiling off her in waves. "Kenshin, I realize, is enough of an idiot to think he can understand me. You, however, Hiko…I expected you to be smarter than that. You've known me entirely too long. You know the reasons behind what I do. How dare you question them?"

Hiko stood slowly, his hand automatically reaching for the katana hidden on his back. Kaoru only laughed harshly as she saw his hand start to move.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm pissed off enough as is. Don't add to your problems. You idiots think you can control me with a few carefully chosen words and a small threat with a shiny sword. You're wrong. And if you wake me again before noon tomorrow, I will personally ensure that each of you will be regenerating your manhood for the next two centuries."

Hiko grimaced and Kenshin had the good grace to look ashamed as they watched her limp back down the hallway to the guest room. The door slammed shut behind her, making both of them flinch.

"Well," Hiko said after an intermittent amount of time, "that honestly went better than I was expecting it to."

"She didn't run," Kenshin pointed out softly. Hiko laughed softly at his statement.

"Oh believe me," the black-haired man said, "she would've run halfway around the world by now if she had the energy to. I'm surprised she managed to make it back to her room without collapsing. We got lucky."

"I hate it when she runs from me. She's only done it a few times, but I've hated every one of them," Kenshin confessed softly.

Hiko glanced at his pupil from the corner of his eye before looking back down the hallway. "It's her defense mechanism," he said quietly. "Kaoru used to be a fighter, but that run-in with the Council taught her she was not as all-powerful as she liked to believe. It made her very afraid, though she'd never admit it. Because of what that idiot on the Council did to her, whenever she's confronted with a situation that is out of her control, her automatic reaction is to run."

Kenshin looked sad, his eyes taking a hurt cast as he looked at her door. Hiko could see that Kaoru was really doing damage to Kenshin with her cruel, disdainful attitude. Silently he resolved to ward her room in the morning so he could have a serious talk with her. The wards would do several things: keep her from trying to escape, keep Kenshin from hearing the yelling that was bound to happen, and keep her from removing any body parts that Hiko was liable to need. He sincerely hoped he would not need to rely on the last function too much.

Shaking himself of the dark feel of Kaoru's rage against his skin, Hiko turned to Kenshin. "I'll bet you didn't hunt while you were running all the way from Transylvania. The redhead looked up, as though startled to remember that he needed to eat every once and a while. Hiko took on his characteristic pigheaded smirk and said, "Let's see if I can't round us up a couple of deer."

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru collapsed the moment her door was shut. She would've liked to have slammed it, but found she didn't have the strength in her arm to do so. Anger burned sweet and hot in her system, but it was quickly eating away what little energy she'd managed to regain in the last twelve hours or so.

Kaoru slumped against her door frame. She knew to all appearances she was asleep, her breathing shallow and even and her eyes relaxed and closed. However, her consciousness was still moving at a million miles an hour. She could not stop thinking of what she'd heard and every time she reran the conversation in her mind, the rage returned as strongly as she'd first felt it, even though the time for which it burned was nearly nothing.

_How could they be so…infuriating? I understand exactly why Kenshin can't comprehend my anger towards him. He's blind to my rage because he fancies himself in love. _

"Idiot," whispered a small, malicious part of her mind. "You know he loves you. Why can't you just accept that?"

_He betrayed me. He left me without ever hearing my side of the story. How can I acknowledge love from someone who would do that?_

"He was frightened and hurt. He'd thought the world of you and you had let him. You allowed him to believe you were the pinnacle of what a vampire could be and he found out that you had lied. You are lucky. He ran, but he also came back. You don't want to admit the real reason you're pushing him away. You're not worthy of him."

Kaoru hissed aloud as the cruel voice whispered her darkest secret. _Shut up!_ she thought to herself. _I hate him! Stop your lies._

"You fight because you know I'm right," the voice hissed back, even as Kaoru felt tears burn in her eyes. Angrily she swiped at her eyes before rising and stumbling to the bed. As she slumped against the edge, she could not stop the harsh caw of bitter laughter that rose in her throat. _I'm going insane,_ she thought hopelessly. _Now I'm arguing with myself._

She tried to summon up the self-righteous rage she'd felt when she'd heard Kenshin and Hiko discussing her defense mechanisms and her fears as though they thought they could see inside her mind, but found that there was no rage left. After all, hadn't almost all of what they said been right? Was she not a coward who ran when confronted with someone she could not control? Did she not still secretly fear the Council that had destroyed her so long ago?

With a rare show of exhaustion, Kaoru pulled herself into the bed and collapsed upon it without removing any of her clothes. She tried to summon her blanket of catatonia, in which she would not dream or think, but it was slow in coming and she was awake long into the night, listening to that same familiar voice torture her.

_Just shut up!_ she growled to herself. _I'm exhausted so that means you are, too. Why can't you just give it a rest?_

"Because if I do," it told her softly, "then you have no hope at all."

oOoOoOoOo

Hiko glanced in on Kenshin as he moved silently about his house. The redhead was still out cold, completely exhausted from travel. The young vampire probably wouldn't be awake before nightfall. Hiko gave a rare soft smile where none would see before schooling his face and moving on to the next bedroom. His next task would not be so easy.

He'd set the wards last night when he'd known Kaoru would be unable to stop him, even if she was awake. Now, as he entered her room, he activated the wards, closing them in.

Kaoru sat in a chair near the window, her legs drawn up to her chest. By all appearances, she was asleep, but he was not so naïve. She'd known the moment he entered her room. Rather than confront her, he sat at the edge of the bed, still made and slightly rumpled. Kaoru had obviously slept on it without even getting into the covers.

Slowly, Kaoru lifted her head, her eyes open only to enough to reveal a glint of silver. Her anger was more contained today, but it still broiled just beneath the surface. Hiko felt a glimmer of hope. If he stepped carefully, he might get through this whole conversation without having to yell.

"Why are you helping him?" Kaoru growled softly. "You disapproved of what he did just as much as I did."

"I'm helping him because…though he's an idiot, he's my idiot. I had a hand in the man he became just as much as you did. So when he came to me as a complete fool in love, I knew it was my responsibility to either knock some sense into him, or knock some sense into the girl he'd fallen for. Shame it was you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, though there was not real anger in the statement.

"It's no personal offense to you. When he left you the first time, I had hoped it was because the disillusionment he felt towards you would also undo his love for you. Instead, he stupidly stayed in love, even though he'd hurt you enough to drive you away. He was an idiot in every aspect, from beginning to end. There's not one thing he did right in the last hundred years except try to quit that Council."

Hiko watched Kaoru's reaction carefully. At first, she was still, absorbing the information. Then, quite suddenly, what he'd said clicked. "What did you say?" she asked him breathlessly.

"He's trying to be free of the Council. So he can be with you."

Kaoru's wide eyes slowly narrowed again. The cold exterior that she held so dearly slowly rebuilt. "They'll never release him."

"On the contrary," Hiko told her, rising and slowly approaching, "he has a deal going with Saitoh. If he can get you to reemerge from hiding, even if you don't rejoin the Council, Saitoh will break his contract."

Kaoru snorted. "I doubt the Wolf would keep that bargain."

"He has another assassin lined up. Even if he didn't, you of all people know Saitoh is a man of his word, even if he's little else."

She had no way of refuting his words, so she maintained a brooding silence.

Hiko sat down across from her, trying to make his normally harsh face a little more gentle. "The boy's in love with you," he said softly.

Kaoru glanced at him before carefully looking out the window. Her eyes were distant, perhaps trying to judge how much she could lose based on her decision. At long last, she refocused on Hiko. "You are asking for trust I do not have. This might have once captured me, but I have nothing left to give him, least of all my trust and love."

"He's not asking for anything, Kaoru. That's the point of love. You give of all of yourself and ask nothing in return."

"Then I don't think I can ever love him again."

"But you loved him before."

Rage began to filter into her eyes, slowly overtaking the sadness and the coldness. "Yes, damn it. I loved him. And he betrayed that love. I now I hate him. When I betray his love, won't he feel the same? I'd rather he love me right now and keep on loving that memory than hate me in fifty years because he's realized I hate him."

Hiko shook his head at her and rose. "You might be three thousand years old, Kaoru, but you still don't know the first thing about love. You don't even know what your own heart is telling you."

The black-haired man quietly left the room, wards vanishing as he went. Kaoru watched after him and vaguely thought that beneath his usually gruff voice, she'd detected a hint of sadness.

oOoOoOoOo

Kenshin was slow to waking, an unusual sensation for him. Normally when he emerged from his catatonic sleeping state, it was in a sudden snap that accompanied the rush of his waking energy. However, weakened as he was, his energy was very loathe to return. After several minutes of simply lying where he was, Kenshin summoned the will to open his eyes and sit up.

He was in a room that was vaguely familiar to him as he glanced around at the sparse furnishing and bland colors. Hiko always had been a minimalist. Slowly, the redhead stood and stretched, his bones popping almost like human joints, though he was certainly not stiff.

Kenshin stumbled out to the dining room uncaring that his hair was down and wild and that he had misplaced his shirt. Hiko sat at the dining room table sipping sake. Kenshin mentally laughed with the thought, _When is that man ever not drinking sake?_ However, the sight of the woman sitting across from Hiko quickly halted his mental joke.

His light mood dropped away as he laid eyes on Kaoru. She glanced at him before returning to the small rabbit set before her. Her single icy glance was enough to quell any happiness he might have felt on waking. Hiko met his gaze for a longer time, his sloe black eyes telling Kenshin that they would talk later.

The redhead carefully made his way to the kitchen where he found a rabbit chilling in the fridge as well as a carafe of sake with a note pinned to it. He leaned down and read the kanji, his mind slowly dredging up meanings for the symbols; he'd not had to read kanji in years. When he'd finished reading the note, he was not reassured. It read, "You're going to need this. And I do mean all of it." With a resigned sigh, Kenshin pulled out the rabbit and the carafe and drank them both in one sitting.

Kaoru came into the kitchen once, to dispose of her rabbit carcass, but she pretended as though he did not exist. He watched her through hooded golden eyes, wondering what exactly Hiko had managed to learn from her. The slightest bit of information would help, especially if she ran again, as Hiko predicted she would.

When he'd finished eating, he went outside, choosing to go through the patio door adjacent the kitchen rather than passing into the same room as Kaoru again. It was better she was not reminded of his presence until he wanted her to be reminded. Hiko joined him only a moment later.

"What did you say to her?"

"It doesn't matter what I said," Hiko told Kenshin, "it only matters what she said."

"And?"

Hiko glanced to the side and said, "Didn't I teach you more patience?"

"You patient, Hiko? You didn't teach me any patience at all. The only thing you ever taught me was hardheadedness."

The older vampire chuckled softly before taking a serious cast. "The good news is she still loves you, though she might not admit it for the next hundred years or so."

"You should have given me the bad news first. I already knew the good news."

"The bad news is she never intends to let you get close enough to show her how much you love her."

"That does present a problem doesn't it?" Kenshin whispered softly.

"The good thing about all this," Hiko said a little more loudly, "is that I plan to save your ass…again."

Kenshin glowered at his old master, though he was secretly glad to see that Hiko had not changed, though many years had passed since they last stood in the same room together. He'd feared that the same apathy towards life that was afflicting Kaoru would also be affecting Hiko--a vampire who was easily more than a thousand years old.

He grew quiet again as he looked out at the twilight forest. "Do you think we can make this work, shishou?"

Hiko immediately sensed the gravity behind his pupil's words and considered the question carefully. "I suppose that depends on your definition of working order. If you mean do you think we can bring Kaoru back from the brink of whatever precipice she's on right now, the answer is yes. If you mean do you think she'll be the same as she was, the answer is no. If you mean do you think you'll still be able to love her, then I have no doubts."

Hiko turned and entered his house, presumably to drink more sake. He left Kenshin staring out at the deepening sky and the cold stars, with only dark thoughts to accompany him.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru silently fumed at the infuriating vampire who she had once trusted as a friend. The moment she'd returned to her room to rest, he'd brought up his damned wards. Most unfortunately, she had not yet regained her strength and even if she had, breaking Hiko's wards would probably drain her again. The man was nothing if not ridiculously strong.

Now she could only sit and wait and she had an excellent hunch of exactly what they were planning next. As if in answer to her silent, brooding thoughts, the door quietly clicked open. Kaoru gathered her rage around her, preparing for the rant she was about to go on at the idiot redhead who would not forgo his stubbornness and leave her alone. However, when she turned to face him, she found herself at a loss for words.

Kenshin stood in front of her closed door, still shirtless. The soft moonlight that fell through her window threw his chiseled body into sharp shadow, adding to the already defined contours of his muscles. His wild red hair caught her attention and she admired the way the moonlight gilded each fiery strand with silver and left the rest in purple shadow. His eyes were what most commanded her attention. They glowed with a light of their own, the fierce gold burning through the darkness and reflecting the faint light like cats' eyes.

Kaoru swallowed against the absolutely perfect picture he made. She cursed her automatic attraction to him and cursed the fact that he knew to use it against her. Silently, she raged at herself for not being strong enough to resist hormones that, for the last hundred years or so, had been perfectly happy with leaving her alone. All of this self-introspection, unfortunately, gave Kenshin enough time to make the first move.

He crossed the room to her with ungodly speed, moving so quickly even her skilled eyes could not track him. He stood directly in front of her, far too close for comfort. If her heart had been beating, it most certainly might have been erratic right about now. As it was, she felt a rare flush in her cheeks and knew he could sense her nervousness.

Kaoru nearly jumped when his hand touched her jaw line, coaxing her to look up and meet his eyes. Cold rage returned to her veins, albeit very slowly. She tried to jerk away from his grasp, only to find she was too weak or too unwilling to do so. His hand continued to coax her upward until she had no choice but to stand or have her neck break.

Standing, Kaoru found, brought her even more uncomfortably close to Kenshin. Their bodies were nearly flush to each other, only a hair's breadth keeping them from touching. She found that the proximity made her hyper aware of everything about him, from the faint ghost of warmth that escaped his skin to the way his chest steadily rose and fell with breathing that was more habit than necessity.

"Kaoru," he whispered, the scent of sake and blood still fresh on his breath as he leaned in close to her ear, "we have some talking to do."

Hiko was waiting for Kenshin when the redhead appeared around midnight on his doorstep, buried deep in one of the few forests left in Germany. The young man emerged from the shadows, though the shadows seemed reluctant to release him and clung to his shoulders as the moonlight touched his lithe frame.

Hiko stood and placed himself squarely in front of the door as the first waves of his pupil's rage hit him.

"Where is she?" growled Kenshin, coming to a halt before the taller man and boldly meeting sloe black eyes with his own burning gold ones.

"She's inside, in the guest room," Hiko answered, disgustingly calm as always.

Kenshin made to move past Hiko, but the larger man did not budge. He kept his ground and fixed his pupil with a glare that was meant to make the younger vampire submit. Kenshin refused to do so, aiming instead to move to a nearby window. Hiko responded by grabbing the redhead by his shoulder and bodily pushing the man into a chair just outside the doorway.

"You're not going in there until you've calmed down. She's still recovering."

"If I go in there calm, I won't be able to get angry at her," Kenshin hissed.

A frown marred Hiko's chiseled face. "And you want to be angry at her because…"

"She threatened a friend of mine. She could have killed Misao. This battle is between her and me. She had no right to threaten an innocent."

"Was the girl helping you?"

Kenshin glared up for a moment before averting his eyes and attempting to burn a hole into the ground with his anger.

"That's what I thought. Kaoru was justified, if a little harsh. That woman has suffered a lot, especially from you. I don't blame her for being a little edgy."

"I do," Kenshin shot back. "I know she suffered, but she, of all people, is smart enough to know that wallowing in her own self-pity and the pain she inflicts on others will only draw her deeper into the pit she's made for herself."

"She does know that," Hiko said softly, surprising Kenshin into silence. "She told you herself," he continued, "she doesn't want to exist anymore. Since she cannot kill herself, this is the quickest way to bring death upon herself—create enemies capable of killing her. If she does that, she can leave this world."

Kenshin sighed, the anger rushing out of him suddenly as he felt the drain of running several hundred miles. It was entirely too hard to maintain his rage any longer. "I just don't understand why she has lost the will to live. I…I know I'm part of it. But if I'm willing to make reparations to her, why is she not healing."

"Because she's afraid," Hiko answered simply, seating himself on the front step of his home. "She knows you left her once and that knowledge makes her fear you'll leave her again. Combine that fear with all she has already endured and she starts to lose sight of the important things."

A cold voice effectively cut Hiko off. "Well, aren't we all just the world's next Freud? Clearly you have analyzed my entire life and will now proceed to tell me all the things to make it right again."

Both men looked apprehensively up at the black haired woman supporting herself against the door jam. Kaoru glared back down at them, her eyes taking an eerie silver cast in the moonlight.

"How dare you?" she hissed, anger roiling off her in waves. "Kenshin, I realize, is enough of an idiot to think he can understand me. You, however, Hiko…I expected you to be smarter than that. You've known me entirely too long. You know the reasons behind what I do. How dare you question them?"

Hiko stood slowly, his hand automatically reaching for the katana hidden on his back. Kaoru only laughed harshly as she saw his hand start to move.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'm pissed off enough as is. Don't add to your problems. You idiots think you can control me with a few carefully chosen words and a small threat with a shiny sword. You're wrong. And if you wake me again before noon tomorrow, I will personally ensure that each of you will be regenerating your manhood for the next two centuries."

Hiko grimaced and Kenshin had the good grace to look ashamed as they watched her limp back down the hallway to the guest room. The door slammed shut behind her, making both of them flinch.

"Well," Hiko said after an intermittent amount of time, "that honestly went better than I was expecting it to."

"She didn't run," Kenshin pointed out softly. Hiko laughed softly at his statement.

"Oh believe me," the black-haired man said, "she would've run halfway around the world by now if she had the energy to. I'm surprised she managed to make it back to her room without collapsing. We got lucky."

"I hate it when she runs from me. She's only done it a few times, but I've hated every one of them," Kenshin confessed softly.

Hiko glanced at his pupil from the corner of his eye before looking back down the hallway. "It's her defense mechanism," he said quietly. "Kaoru used to be a fighter, but that run-in with the Council taught her she was not as all-powerful as she liked to believe. It made her very afraid, though she'd never admit it. Because of what that idiot on the Council did to her, whenever she's confronted with a situation that is out of her control, her automatic reaction is to run."

Kenshin looked sad, his eyes taking a hurt cast as he looked at her door. Hiko could see that Kaoru was really doing damage to Kenshin with her cruel, disdainful attitude. Silently he resolved to ward her room in the morning so he could have a serious talk with her. The wards would do several things: keep her from trying to escape, keep Kenshin from hearing the yelling that was bound to happen, and keep her from removing any body parts that Hiko was liable to need. He sincerely hoped he would not need to rely on the last function too much.

Shaking himself of the dark feel of Kaoru's rage against his skin, Hiko turned to Kenshin. "I'll bet you didn't hunt while you were running all the way from Transylvania. The redhead looked up, as though startled to remember that he needed to eat every once and a while. Hiko took on his characteristic pigheaded smirk and said, "Let's see if I can't round us up a couple of deer."

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru collapsed the moment her door was shut. She would've liked to have slammed it, but found she didn't have the strength in her arm to do so. Anger burned sweet and hot in her system, but it was quickly eating away what little energy she'd managed to regain in the last twelve hours or so.

Kaoru slumped against her door frame. She knew to all appearances she was asleep, her breathing shallow and even and her eyes relaxed and closed. However, her consciousness was still moving at a million miles an hour. She could not stop thinking of what she'd heard and every time she reran the conversation in her mind, the rage returned as strongly as she'd first felt it, even though the time for which it burned was nearly nothing.

_How could they be so…infuriating? I understand exactly why Kenshin can't comprehend my anger towards him. He's blind to my rage because he fancies himself in love. _

_"Idiot,"_ whispered a small, malicious part of her mind. _"You know he loves you. Why can't you just accept that?"_

_He betrayed me. He left me without ever hearing my side of the story. How can I acknowledge love from someone who would do that?_

_"He was frightened and hurt. He'd thought the world of you and you had let him. You allowed him to believe you were the pinnacle of what a vampire could be and he found out that you had lied. You are lucky. He ran, but he also came back. You don't want to admit the real reason you're pushing him away. You're not worthy of him."_

Kaoru hissed aloud as the cruel voice whispered her darkest secret. _Shut up!_ she thought to herself. _I hate him! Stop your lies._

_"You fight because you know I'm right,"_ the voice hissed back, even as Kaoru felt tears burn in her eyes. Angrily she swiped at her eyes before rising and stumbling to the bed. As she slumped against the edge, she could not stop the harsh caw of bitter laughter that rose in her throat. _I'm going insane,_ she thought hopelessly. _Now I'm arguing with myself._

She tried to summon up the self-righteous rage she'd felt when she'd heard Kenshin and Hiko discussing her defense mechanisms and her fears as though they thought they could see inside her mind, but found that there was no rage left. After all, hadn't almost all of what they said been right? Was she not a coward who ran when confronted with someone she could not control? Did she not still secretly fear the Council that had destroyed her so long ago?

With a rare show of exhaustion, Kaoru pulled herself into the bed and collapsed upon it without removing any of her clothes. She tried to summon her blanket of catatonia, in which she would not dream or think, but it was slow in coming and she was awake long into the night, listening to that same familiar voice torture her.

_Just shut up!_ she growled to herself. _I'm exhausted so that means you are, too. Why can't you just give it a rest?_

_"Because if I do,"_ it told her softly, _"then you have no hope at all."_

oOoOoOoOo

Hiko glanced in on Kenshin as he moved silently about his house. The redhead was still out cold, completely exhausted from travel. The young vampire probably wouldn't be awake before nightfall. Hiko gave a rare soft smile where none would see before schooling his face and moving on to the next bedroom. His next task would not be so easy.

He'd set the wards last night when he'd known Kaoru would be unable to stop him, even if she was awake. Now, as he entered her room, he activated the wards, closing them in.

Kaoru sat in a chair near the window, her legs drawn up to her chest. By all appearances, she was asleep, but he was not so naïve. She'd known the moment he entered her room. Rather than confront her, he sat at the edge of the bed, still made and slightly rumpled. Kaoru had obviously slept on it without even getting into the covers.

Slowly, Kaoru lifted her head, her eyes open only to enough to reveal a glint of silver. Her anger was more contained today, but it still broiled just beneath the surface. Hiko felt a glimmer of hope. If he stepped carefully, he might get through this whole conversation without having to yell.

"Why are you helping him?" Kaoru growled softly. "You disapproved of what he did just as much as I did."

"I'm helping him because…though he's an idiot, he's my idiot. I had a hand in the man he became just as much as you did. So when he came to me as a complete fool in love, I knew it was my responsibility to either knock some sense into him, or knock some sense into the girl he'd fallen for. Shame it was you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, though there was not real anger in the statement.

"It's no personal offense to you. When he left you the first time, I had hoped it was because the disillusionment he felt towards you would also undo his love for you. Instead, he stupidly stayed in love, even though he'd hurt you enough to drive you away. He was an idiot in every aspect, from beginning to end. There's not one thing he did right in the last hundred years except try to quit that Council."

Hiko watched Kaoru's reaction carefully. At first, she was still, absorbing the information. Then, quite suddenly, what he'd said clicked. "What did you say?" she asked him breathlessly.

"He's trying to be free of the Council. So he can be with you."

Kaoru's wide eyes slowly narrowed again. The cold exterior that she held so dearly slowly rebuilt. "They'll never release him."

"On the contrary," Hiko told her, rising and slowly approaching, "he has a deal going with Saitoh. If he can get you to reemerge from hiding, even if you don't rejoin the Council, Saitoh will break his contract."

Kaoru snorted. "I doubt the Wolf would keep that bargain."

"He has another assassin lined up. Even if he didn't, you of all people know Saitoh is a man of his word, even if he's little else."

She had no way of refuting his words, so she maintained a brooding silence.

Hiko sat down across from her, trying to make his normally harsh face a little more gentle. "The boy's in love with you," he said softly.

Kaoru glanced at him before carefully looking out the window. Her eyes were distant, perhaps trying to judge how much she could lose based on her decision. At long last, she refocused on Hiko. "You are asking for trust I do not have. This might have once captured me, but I have nothing left to give him, least of all my trust and love."

"He's not asking for anything, Kaoru. That's the point of love. You give of all of yourself and ask nothing in return."

"Then I don't think I can ever love him again."

"But you loved him before."

Rage began to filter into her eyes, slowly overtaking the sadness and the coldness. "Yes, damn it. I loved him. And he betrayed that love. I now I hate him. When I betray his love, won't he feel the same? I'd rather he love me right now and keep on loving that memory than hate me in fifty years because he's realized I hate him."

Hiko shook his head at her and rose. "You might be three thousand years old, Kaoru, but you still don't know the first thing about love. You don't even know what your own heart is telling you."

The black-haired man quietly left the room, wards vanishing as he went. Kaoru watched after him and vaguely thought that beneath his usually gruff voice, she'd detected a hint of sadness.

oOoOoOoOo

Kenshin was slow to waking, an unusual sensation for him. Normally when he emerged from his catatonic sleeping state, it was in a sudden snap that accompanied the rush of his waking energy. However, weakened as he was, his energy was very loathe to return. After several minutes of simply lying where he was, Kenshin summoned the will to open his eyes and sit up.

He was in a room that was vaguely familiar to him as he glanced around at the sparse furnishing and bland colors. Hiko always had been a minimalist. Slowly, the redhead stood and stretched, his bones popping almost like human joints, though he was certainly not stiff.

Kenshin stumbled out to the dining room uncaring that his hair was down and wild and that he had misplaced his shirt. Hiko sat at the dining room table sipping sake. Kenshin mentally laughed with the thought, _When is that man ever not drinking sake?_ However, the sight of the woman sitting across from Hiko quickly halted his mental joke.

His light mood dropped away as he laid eyes on Kaoru. She glanced at him before returning to the small rabbit set before her. Her single icy glance was enough to quell any happiness he might have felt on waking. Hiko met his gaze for a longer time, his sloe black eyes telling Kenshin that they would talk later.

The redhead carefully made his way to the kitchen where he found a rabbit chilling in the fridge as well as a carafe of sake with a note pinned to it. He leaned down and read the kanji, his mind slowly dredging up meanings for the symbols; he'd not had to read kanji in years. When he'd finished reading the note, he was not reassured. It read, "You're going to need this. And I do mean all of it." With a resigned sigh, Kenshin pulled out the rabbit and the carafe and drank them both in one sitting.

Kaoru came into the kitchen once, to dispose of her rabbit carcass, but she pretended as though he did not exist. He watched her through hooded golden eyes, wondering what exactly Hiko had managed to learn from her. The slightest bit of information would help, especially if she ran again, as Hiko predicted she would.

When he'd finished eating, he went outside, choosing to go through the patio door adjacent the kitchen rather than passing into the same room as Kaoru again. It was better she was not reminded of his presence until he wanted her to be reminded. Hiko joined him only a moment later.

"What did you say to her?"

"It doesn't matter what I said," Hiko told Kenshin, "it only matters what she said."

"And?"

Hiko glanced to the side and said, "Didn't I teach you more patience?"

"You patient, Hiko? You didn't teach me any patience at all. The only thing you ever taught me was hardheadedness."

The older vampire chuckled softly before taking a serious cast. "The good news is she still loves you, though she might not admit it for the next hundred years or so."

"You should have given me the bad news first. I already knew the good news."

"The bad news is she never intends to let you get close enough to show her how much you love her."

"That does present a problem doesn't it?" Kenshin whispered softly.

"The good thing about all this," Hiko said a little more loudly, "is that I plan to save your ass…again."

Kenshin glowered at his old master, though he was secretly glad to see that Hiko had not changed, though many years had passed since they last stood in the same room together. He'd feared that the same apathy towards life that was afflicting Kaoru would also be affecting Hiko--a vampire who was easily more than a thousand years old.

He grew quiet again as he looked out at the twilight forest. "Do you think we can make this work, shishou?"

Hiko immediately sensed the gravity behind his pupil's words and considered the question carefully. "I suppose that depends on your definition of working order. If you mean do you think we can bring Kaoru back from the brink of whatever precipice she's on right now, the answer is yes. If you mean do you think she'll be the same as she was, the answer is no. If you mean do you think you'll still be able to love her, then I have no doubts."

Hiko turned and entered his house, presumably to drink more sake. He left Kenshin staring out at the deepening sky and the cold stars, with only dark thoughts to accompany him.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru silently fumed at the infuriating vampire who she had once trusted as a friend. The moment she'd returned to her room to rest, he'd brought up his damned wards. Most unfortunately, she had not yet regained her strength and even if she had, breaking Hiko's wards would probably drain her again. The man was nothing if not ridiculously strong.

Now she could only sit and wait and she had an excellent hunch of exactly what they were planning next. As if in answer to her silent, brooding thoughts, the door quietly clicked open. Kaoru gathered her rage around her, preparing for the rant she was about to go on at the idiot redhead who would not forgo his stubbornness and leave her alone. However, when she turned to face him, she found herself at a loss for words.

Kenshin stood in front of her closed door, still shirtless. The soft moonlight that fell through her window threw his chiseled body into sharp shadow, adding to the already defined contours of his muscles. His wild red hair caught her attention and she admired the way the moonlight gilded each fiery strand with silver and left the rest in purple shadow. His eyes were what most commanded her attention. They glowed with a light of their own, the fierce gold burning through the darkness and reflecting the faint light like cats' eyes.

Kaoru swallowed against the absolutely perfect picture he made. She cursed her automatic attraction to him and cursed the fact that he knew to use it against her. Silently, she raged at herself for not being strong enough to resist hormones that, for the last hundred years or so, had been perfectly happy with leaving her alone. All of this self-introspection, unfortunately, gave Kenshin enough time to make the first move.

He crossed the room to her with ungodly speed, moving so quickly even her skilled eyes could not track him. He stood directly in front of her, far too close for comfort. If her heart had been beating, it most certainly might have been erratic right about now. As it was, she felt a rare flush in her cheeks and knew he could sense her nervousness.

Kaoru nearly jumped when his hand touched her jaw line, coaxing her to look up and meet his eyes. Cold rage returned to her veins, albeit very slowly. She tried to jerk away from his grasp, only to find she was too weak or too unwilling to do so. His hand continued to coax her upward until she had no choice but to stand or have her neck break.

Standing, Kaoru found, brought her even more uncomfortably close to Kenshin. Their bodies were nearly flush to each other, only a hair's breadth keeping them from touching. She found that the proximity made her hyper aware of everything about him, from the faint ghost of warmth that escaped his skin to the way his chest steadily rose and fell with breathing that was more habit than necessity.

"Kaoru," he whispered, the scent of sake and blood still fresh on his breath as he leaned in close to her ear, "we have some talking to do."

Glossary type thing:

shishou – teacher, master; title Kenshin uses when speaking to Hiko

_A/N: Yes, I know it's shorter than usual…except I just looked at the page count and it says 18, so I guess it's not. I've posted a lovely one-sho,t also. This is the chapter whose soul purpose is to set up the next chapter, in which we _will _get to the bottom of things. For the most part. Don't you just love role reversal? Expect the next chapter to be out by the end of the first week of March. If I'm late…well, we'll burn that bridge when we cross it. On another note, someone pointed out I could use the author messaging system to send out reviewer responses. To this I say, "Why didn't I think of that?" However, if your response is anonymous, it will still be posted at my livejournal._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Kenshin no mine. I duck in corner while you read. Please put the pitchforks down._

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 4**

Hiko glanced surreptitiously at the door his baka deshi had just disappeared through. He was incredibly nervous, though it only showed in the way he gripped his sake jug with white knuckles. He glared out into the night before glancing back at the door. _If you screw this up, Kenshin…_ he thought to himself. A sudden flair of ki distracted him from finishing his thought. _Vampires out here?_ He wondered, standing and moving to his doorway.

One of the reasons he'd chosen Germany as a refuge was because most vampires had evacuated during WWII. Secret concentration camps had not been the only thing Hitler had been up to. He'd also tried to get his hands on a sample of genetic vampire material. He'd intended to make an army of superhuman Nazis with the sole purpose of taking over the world. He had not counted on the retaliation of the vampire community. He'd thought they'd react like beasts, but instead they turned and fought in secret, slipping into the ranks of the Allied armies and reeking hell on the battlefields. Kenshin had been one of those vampires until the war was over.

After the war had finished, very few had returned. Their memories haunted them far too much for that. Even vampires had been horrified by the atrocities the Nazis had committed. Hiko had not participated in the war, indeed, had been isolated in Tibet at the time. But even he had longed for a little taste of civilization, not to mention a ready sake supply. Germany had seemed like a suitable place, especially with such a limited vampire population. This might have been the first unfamiliar ki he'd felt since he'd first come to Germany.

A feeling of foreboding settled over him and he drew his sword without hesitation. These people had picked the wrong vampire to bother. He watched with narrowed, glinting eyes as two shadows slowly emerged from the darkness. They stood at the edge of the clearing unmoving, though the tall one held two naked kodachi.

The tall one, a man with dark ear-length hair dressed in a trench coat, stepped forward slightly and said, "Is Himura Kenshin here?"

"Who wants to know?" Hiko growled, bringing his sword to bear on the tall man.

"Tell him Misao and Aoshi are here," the shorter shadow said, stepping forward and revealing that she was a female vampire dressed rather simply in jeans and a windbreaker. A long braid swung down her back past her knees.

Hiko frowned. Kenshin had mentioned a Misao when he arrived, but he hadn't said she'd be following. As though reading his mind, the girl added, "We followed against his wishes, but we have some information he needs to know."

"And I should trust you because…?" Hiko drawled, twirling his sword in idle threat.

The male vampire, Aoshi, glanced at the female by his side before growling lightly and beginning to talk in the old speech, the words raising a brief, chilling wind and calling to wild animals for miles around. Hiko listened and was impressed at the male vampire's eloquence. Aoshi left absolutely no loophole for himself. Essentially, he placed himself at Hiko's mercy. The female quietly repeated him, word for word.

"Come in," Hiko said roughly, motioning as he sheathed his sword. "Kenshin's…occupied at the moment, but he'll see you when he's finished."

"We don't know whether or not we were followed."

Hiko glanced sharply back, but continued down the hallway to the kitchen. "Followed by whom?" he asked as he fished out another carafe of sake and two saucers for his guests.

Misao looked to Aoshi and he nodded curtly. "Shortly after Kenshin and Kaoru left, two vampires arrived at the castle she was staying at. We didn't disturb them, but they looked like Council lackeys. I listened in on part of the conversation. It sounded like they were after Kenshin, not Kaoru, but I wasn't entirely sure."

Hiko frowned lightly, keeping his eyes carefully hooded. If Kenshin had led the Council here, there would be hell to pay. But normally his baka deshi was smart enough to cover his ki trail. They shouldn't be able to track him. Unless the Council had some new underhanded trick up their sleeves.

He looked up again to see that both of the vampires were watching him intently, studying minute details an ordinary human would miss. These two traveled in dark circles; of that Hiko was certain. He would guess that they were ninja, possibly spies, though two kodachi was a very odd weapon choice for a ninja.

"I will deal with the problem if it should come," he told them softly. "In the meantime, you two have traveled all the way from Transylvania. I'll show you to a room where you can rest." He rose and walked down the hallway, knowing the two were following without having to look behind him. He opened the door of his own personal bedroom. It wasn't as if he planned on sleeping tonight.

The tall vampire walked in without a word, but the young female stopped in the door frame, looking back slightly. "Sir, is Kaoru…ok?"

Slough black eyes glared down at her for a moment, taking in every detail and seemingly peering straight into her head. Then Hiko sighed and his imposing manner disappeared for a moment. "I'm not sure yet," he answered truthfully.

She seemed to consider this, her eyes darting to the other doorways in the hallway. Then she nodded and also disappeared into his room. Hiko shut the door behind them and stalked back down the hallway, pausing outside Kaoru's door even though he knew he wouldn't hear a thing. "She damn well better be ok," he growled angrily before continuing on his way to the living room where he would await dawn.

oOoOoOoOo

The two agents traveled at great speed through the mountainous landscape.

"You're sure they came this way?"

"How else could they have crossed the mountains?"

"The tall one is a magic user. He could have used a transport spell."

"He didn't. I would've sensed the ki."

"My lord will not be pleased if we lost them all, especially her. This is the first sniff he's gotten of her since the Second World War. You know he was intent on killing her this time."

"Of course," the smaller agent growled, trying desperately to pick up even a faint trace of vampire ki. He knew the penalties were too high if they failed.

"Wait," the taller one suddenly cried as he tilted his ear to the side. Both halted, standing upright and conspicuous against the white snow. "We've gotten lucky," the tall one said after several seconds had passed. "One of our agents spotted them passing a small village on the border. They're somewhere in Germany."

"Do we have any other information?"

"Yes," the tall one said, his mouth curling into a predatory grin. "When Battoussai ran from his mentor, another vamp took him in for a while. If the rumors are right, that vamp is hidden in the Black Forest."

"What are we waiting for then? Let's get going."

"Just a moment," the tall one murmured, grabbing the second agent's arm. "Our lord is going to help us."

As he spoke the words red, flickering light spread from bands around the agents' necks. It strengthened and took the form of a spell circle, drifting down to the snow and easily melting the upper crust of ice. The shorter agent watched in fear. He knew little of magic. This circle could be a killing spell, and he wouldn't know until he was dead. Symbols slowly etched themselves into the snow inside the circle, pulsing faintly and giving off the odor of fresh blood. The tall agent smirked and began salivating, already dreaming of the blood that waited for him elsewhere.

With a final bright pulse, the magic took hold and activated. A loud rush of air filled the clearing and then all was silent. The agents had disappeared.

oOoOoOoOo

"Talking?" Kaoru hissed. "What is left to talk about?"

"Everything," Kenshin said vehemently, grabbing one of her arms before she could try to run from him. Kaoru glared at him, the silver of her eyes intensified by the light of the waning moon.

"Why don't you ever give up?" she growled, her fangs dipping below her bottom lip in warning.

"What would be the fun in that?" he teased as his other hand ghosted down her neck and across her collar bone to her shoulder. It took all of Kaoru's self-control not to shiver at the phantasmal sensations running across her skin.

"You've been running for too long, Kaoru," he said as he voice dropped in pitch. "Aren't you tired of it yet?"

"Yes! I've told you that."

"No, you've told me you're tired of life."

"It's the same thing."

"No, it's not. There is a difference between facing your fears and killing yourself to avoid them."

"What would you have me do? Burst in on the Blood Council and demand atonement from the one who tried to slaughter me."

"In time, yes. For now, I'd much rather you just admit that you don't want to run from me anymore."

"Yes, I do."

"Why, Kaoru? Give me your reasons," he demanded firmly, pulling her closer so that there was almost no space between them. At this distance she could not avoid his eyes. She was forced to stare into the golden depths and meet him head on.

"Because you're a pawn of the Council. You sold your soul to the creatures lower than the Devil himself!" she shouted, struggling desperately in his grip and using what little strength she'd regained to try and shock him with the lightning spell still etched on her hand.

"But there's more to it!" Kenshin shouted back, firmly grasping the hand with the spell written on it. "You never do anything for just one reason! Tell me!"

"No!" she cried, lunging forward and sinking fangs into his shoulder. Kenshin hissed, but did not push her away. Kaoru did not feed on other vampires as a rule, and he knew this. She'd bitten out of defense, not hunger. Her fangs disengaged from his shoulder, just as he'd known they would and she tried to break away from the injured arm. His grip remained unwavering.

She wrenched away, and the sight he was presented with scared him to the core. Her eyes were wild and feral, completely uncontrolled. His own blood dripped from her lips and fangs down her chin to spatter on her shirt. Her nails ripped viciously at what skin she could reach, drawing deep welts into his arms. She was what she had feared becoming--a wild vampire without control. Pain wrenched in his heart as he saw what she had become, partly because of him.

Unthinkingly, he gripped her arms tightly and pulled her close ignoring the nails that now scrabbled at his chest. He kissed her, demanding submission while at the same time trying desperately to apologize for what he'd done and the wounds he'd only deepened.

At first, she bit him, fangs finding purchase in his lips and tongue, but then the fight started dying in her. She was still too weak and had used her poor strength to fight him. Oh so slowly, her nails stopped clawing and simply gripped, holding him against her. She stopped biting, though she did not respond when he tentatively licked her lip. Her frame went limp in his arms until he supported more of her weight than her own feet.

Kenshin slowly broke away from the kiss, easing back just enough to look into her eyes. Silver still glinted there, but blue was starting to return. In that unguarded instant, he could see the utter tiredness of her soul. It brought him crashing to his knees. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close so that he could press his face into her stomach.

Kaoru stood motionless in his hold and stared listlessly into space. What was the point of it? Why should she even bother to fight? In all the years she had fought, it had gotten her nowhere. Those she cared for still slipped from her fingers; innocents still died horrible deaths. Perhaps if she stopped fighting, the world would finally give her some measure of peace.

Kaoru was wrenched from her morbid thoughts, though, when she heard the sound she'd last expected to hear. At first, she wondered if perhaps she was dying because she could not have heard right. But then, the sound came again, a soft sob against her stomach. She looked down, amazement and bewilderment in her eyes. The cool feel of liquid soaking through her shirt confirmed the sight. Himura Kenshin was crying softly against her.

Had he done anything else, she would have known how to respond. A blow is answered with a blow, an angry word with an angry word. They are easy rules to live by. But how does one go about responding to tears of pain? Normally, comfort is offered, but Kaoru had none to give. Instead, she could only stare, utter bafflement crawling through her brain.

In all the years she had known him, Kaoru had never seen Kenshin express pain if he could help it. His wounds did not make him cry, rarely even made him flinch. There was never a sight that he had met that had made tears spill from his eyes. Yet here he was, a cold-blooded killer whom she knew she should hate, and he was crying. _Please, not this, _she thought desperately. She could handle anger, but this was something else entirely.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice rough and low. He looked up then and his eyes were not the familiar burning amber. They had turned a shining amethyst covered in a blue cast. Wonderingly and of their own volition, her fingers traveled to his eyes, touching the corners gently.

"I will understand if you never forgive me, Kaoru," he said, grasping the hand that was touching his face, "but if you can find it in yourself to give me a second chance, I will never leave your side."

The words moved Kaoru beyond all thoughts of anger. Damn it all! She did love him, loathe though she was to admit it to herself. However, as he began repeating himself in the old language, she knew she would not be able to resist him.

She had disappeared to avoid this. Some small part of her had known that once she saw him again, in person, the walls she'd built to guard herself would start to crumble. She'd been wrong. The walls around her heart weren't crumbling; they were crashing.

"Why do you do this to me?" she whispered as she slipped to her knees so they were eye level.

Kenshin looked at her, touching her face hesitantly. "Because I love you."

"You're an idiot," she informed him softly. "I won't make you happy."

"Yes, you will," he insisted, the gold returning to his eyes in increments. "Even arguing with you makes me happy."

"I have three thousand years of life that you're trying to take onto your shoulders. You're going to destroy yourself," she insisted. "It's destroyed me."

"Not yet," he growled, moving forward to kiss her. She pulled back and he immediately halted his advance.

"Give me time," she pleaded, her fingers moving slowly to his lips. "I'm…not used to…being around others."

"I know," he whispered, gently kissing the fingertips against his lips. He understood what she was really saying. She was not ready to trust and individual so far with her body yet. He could wait.

"You need to sleep," he murmured after a moment, gently lifting her as he spoke. She slumped against him, the energy drawn out of her. He laid her on the bed, settling next to her and gently wrapping an arm around her stomach.

"You are ruining your life," she whispered, eyes staring to the ceiling.

"So little faith, Kaoru," he said softly, gently rubbing her side as he pressed his lips to the shoulder nearest him. "Just sleep. The pieces will fall as they were meant to."

She murmured something, but he could not make out the words. A moment later, her ki evened out. He gazed at her profile for long hours, hoping that one day she would be able to tell him exactly what had made her so afraid of life.

oOoOoOoOo

Hiko paced angrily through his living room, pausing every now and then to take a long draft of sake. Wasn't the idiot finished yet? What had happened? For God's sake! He wouldn't care about any mess their fighting might have left if he could only find out what had happened in that room.

The click of a door knocked him out of his reverie and he immediately turned watchful eyes down the hallway. He had to push himself to suppress the growl he felt rising as the two vampires who'd arrived last night slowly emerged from his bedroom. Both watched him warily as they approached and Hiko became aware that he must present a rather intimidating figure.

He immediately tried to smooth his ruffled feathers as he said, "I hope you slept well."

"Yes. Thank you for your hospitality," the female said, smiling brightly.

"Not at all. Are you hungry?"

Neither said a word, but he could see the ravenous looks that sprung in their eyes. "I've got some rabbits left, I think," he growled as he turned to the kitchen.

They received no warning as the foundations of the house shook. Hiko and Aoshi were immediately at the door, weapons drawn. Misao stood further back, her kunai clenched between fingers and ready to be thrown. In the guest bedroom, Kenshin awoke and without pause lifted Kaoru from the bed as he rushed to get his swords. Her blue eyes were slow to open, but he could see the alertness there as he hurried down the hallway to his old room.

_Stupid!_ he berated himself mentally as he glanced back to see Hiko, Aoshi, and Misao (when did they arrive?) standing guard at the door. _I should have brought my swords with me. But I didn't want to intimidate her._ His feelings were more thoroughly expressed as a growl rose from his throat. He could sense magic all around the house, encapsulating them as thoroughly as a cage.

In the living room, Hiko threw open the front door and strode out purposefully, grateful suddenly that he had a person to watch his back. "What is the meaning of this?" he said, his voice carrying easily across the clearing.

Two vampires faced him, both grinning rather manically. One had his hands extended, upholding the spell around them. The other, shorter one had a gun at his side, no doubt loaded with spelled bullets.

"We're looking for someone. We understood we might find that someone here," the short one said, raising his gun so that it was supported against his shoulder.

"No one in this house is going with any Council scum," Hiko said dangerously, keeping his eyes on the short vampire's trigger finger.

"A shame," a new, deeper voice stated from the corners. "I had so hoped she'd be willing to come out and play."

Just as Kenshin arrived at the door, Kaoru safely behind him, a stranger emerged from the woods. Five pairs of eyes immediately swung to the new voice and watched as another vampire appeared from the shadows of the forest.

Kaoru's eyes widened as she took in white hair, rose-tinted half-spectacles, and burning red eyes. "Enishi…" she whispered, the hair on her neck standing on end.

"Kaoru," he purred, stepping fully into the light, "it's been such a long time. The last time we saw each other was in Egypt, I dare say."

Kenshin glanced behind him as he felt waves of fear and anger pulse strongly from Kaoru's body. During the time he'd been searching for her, he'd also been speculating which member of the Council was responsible for her near death five hundred years earlier. Enishi had been on the list, but he hadn't been Kenshin's number one suspect. He felt near surprise now as he took in the white-haired vampire.

Enishi had almost always been a somewhat honorable Council member. His underhanded deals were almost always for the betterment of the vampire world, though he did admittedly traffic in human slavery. However, the vampire had never struck Kenshin as the type to brutalize one of his fellow Council members. Clearly the redhead had been wrong.

oOoOoOoOo

Enishi strolled along the side of the clearing just outside range of the spell circle. He looked calm and collected, as though he were simply strolling to a bank to make a deposit. Every now and then he would throw a glance to one of the occupants of the spell circle, his manic red eyes seeming to draw them in like a rip tide.

"Battoussai," he drawled at length, stopping his pacing to lean back against a tree, "it is wonderful to see you again. May I commend you on the fine work you did in South Africa when last we met? Truly, few others could have tamed that tribe of blood hungry half-breeds."

Kenshin said nothing, but his grip on his katana tightened and he considered the benefits of hurling his wakizashi at Enishi in hopes of removing some vital limb. Such a shame Hiko was in the way.

"However, I am a busy man and must be on my way. But before I go…"

Enishi suddenly stepped forward and drew his finger along a line of the spell circle, adding to one of the patterns. The magic surrounding the house flared brilliantly green and settled over the occupants in a sickly haze. Kenshin tried desperately to draw his sword, but his hand was frozen. His chest wasn't even moving to breathe. If he'd been human, he would have been in trouble.

Enishi strolled into the circle, untouched by the mist. Behind him, his henchmen closed in like circling vultures waiting for the tiger to finish its kill. Within moments, Enishi was among them.

"My dear Kaoru," the white-haired man purred, running his finger along her jaw line, "we have unfinished business."

Kaoru could not move to fight him; though she knew the counter-curses for his spell circle, she was still far too weak to use them. Only her eyes could express her hatred as his hands continued a languid and sickening journey over her upper body, only barely avoiding groping. Enishi was not one to immediately jump to torture.

Without a word, the one the vampire world had nicknamed White Tiger lifted Kaoru and sketched a symbol on her forehead. Yellow and red washed over her body in waves. As Enishi passed, Kenshin could see her eyes fighting to stay open, but in the end they flickered shut.

Rage boiled through Kenshin's veins like nothing he'd ever felt before. His body shook against the spell and he managed a single step forward, bringing him even with Hiko. Enishi cast a glance back at the redhead, a smirk clear on his face. "Good day Battoussai. We'll not see each other again," he said, the malice clear in his voice.

"I have what I came for," Enishi said to his henchmen. "You may do what you will with the rest."

Without another word, the white-haired man disappeared as though he'd never been in the clearing. The lackies he'd left behind began to advance, the thirst in their eyes bright and dangerous. Ki erupted through the clearing as Kenshin broke some of the spell bonds and screamed.

Glossary type thingy:

baka deshi-idiot pupil (Hiko's personal nickname for Kenshin)

_A/N: _cough _I am a liar. A compulsive liar. I admit it. This chapter was late and there was absolutely no sexual content in it (can any of you really blame me?) And it was short. And, to make myself even more evil I went and left you all with a cliffy. To make up for the horrible things I've subjected you to, please go check out the WAFFY one-shot I wrote from the "Eternity" universe just for you, the readers. Title is "Snowfall in San Francisco." Those of you who review, tell me I chose the right villain. I agonized over whether it should be Gohei or Enishi. Again, I'm evil and I'm sorry that the greater powers chose to make me that way. The next chapter should (cross fingers here) be up before March 23._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Here we are everyone! Look at the pretty long chapter in which everything will (hopefully) be explained. This chapter is by far the darkest yet. Heed the T warning. Heck, it might be borderline M. Can't remember what the exact rules for such things are. In the meantime, one of the following sentences is true; the rest are false._

_A. I have a Purple Chinese Spiny-nosed Dragon living in my backyard._

_B. Kenshin and crew are mine and mine alone._

_C. I am a movie star in my spare time and will soon be co-starring in the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean."_

_D. I am a compulsive liar._

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 5**

Hiko's eyes widened slightly as Kenshin's fiery ki ripped through the clearing, leaving the advancing henchmen breathless and on their knees. His attention quickly redirected though. He was not an expert magic user as Kaoru was, but he was not incompetent in such matters. Kenshin's outburst had broken some of the key elements of the spell circle, allowing Hiko to begin unweaving the composition. He could feel the tall ninja working alongside him to hurry the process.

Kenshin was the first to completely shirk the effects of the spell, his rampant ki still aiding him to burn away the magic faster than the others. His katana was drawn and upon the henchmen before they could even think of reacting. The tall one fell first, never even having the chance to rise from the ground. The short one was on his knees and managed to raise his gun to try and block Kenshin's strike. The metal cleaved in half as though it had been paper and Kenshin's sword continued downward to effectively decapitate the scum.

Kenshin turned to his companions just as Hiko regained the ability to move. The sword master stepped forward almost hesitantly upon meeting his pupil's rage. He had never seen such fierceness in Kenshin's eyes and he was wary of the vortex of power that centered on his baka deshi, though Kenshin's control over his ki was beginning to assert itself.

"Do you know where he might have taken her?" Hiko asked as he sheathed his sword.

For a moment, the redhead seemed not to have heard him as he focused his attention on trying to sense the magical trail Enishi might have left. Then his eyes snapped to Hiko with sudden clarity. "No, but these two might," he said, his voice deathly calm as his sword gestured to the dead vampires. With smooth movements of his sword, he slid the spell collar off the one he'd decapitated and offered it on the tip of his sword to his master.

Aoshi broke loose of the spell, though he continued to concentrate on its weave as he worked to free Misao also. He approached slowly and absently, his body performing motions that his mind was not really aware of. Misao broke loose a moment later and ran to meet him. Aoshi hugged her to himself briefly before turning to join the other two.

Hiko handed him the spell collar without question, and Aoshi closed his eyes as he teased the spell stored there, now dead without the life of its occupant. After a moment, he handed it back as he spoke curtly. "It's a basic blood-binding spell. They can't do anything he doesn't tell them to and he can eliminate them…or rather could, at any time he wanted. I don't know if we can use it."

Hiko wracked his brain as he stared down at the dull black metal. His knowledge of dark magic was limited, having never had a use for it himself. The spell in his mind's eye was similar to a tracking spell, but some of the dark symbols and bindings were very unfamiliar. "I could try," he said at last, handing the collar back to Kenshin, "but it wouldn't be very fast. Right now we need is speed."

Kenshin dug into his pocket for his cell phone and the others watched him warily. His ki was still flaring at intervals, lashing out into the mocking, clear morning air. He dialed a number with stiff movements and waited as the phone rang. After five rings, someone picked up.

Every vampire present could hear as a curt voice on the other end snarled, "This had better be worthwhile, Battoussai."

"I need Enishi's location and I need it now," Kenshin growled, his voice brokering no time for argument.

"Does it have to do with Kamiya?"

"Yes," Kenshin said, his grit teeth nearly cracking under pressure.

"Just a moment," the curt cold voice answered. Kenshin resisted the urge to shout that he didn't have a moment. If there was one thing he'd learned in his last hundred years of life, it was that impatience only garnered anger, especially from the Wolf. The tapping of computer keys could be faintly heard over the line as Saitoh worked to find Enishi's location.

"My last informant places him in Norway roughly two hours ago, but I suppose that's not soon enough," Saitoh murmured more to himself than to the vampire on the line. Kenshin's eyes narrowed and he savagely bit his tongue, reopening the wounds from Kaoru that had nearly been healed.

"I know he has a haunt in Spain where he traffics humans but the agent there has reported nothing. The tracking device I have planted in his phone isn't responding." Saitoh sounded angry and the furious typing on the keyboard suddenly stopped. The click of a lighter was heard on the other line before Saitoh's voice returned.

"He's effectively disappeared from our network." Kenshin opened his mouth to say something, most likely profane, but the Wolf cut him off. "However, there is one who would know where he is."

Kenshin's eyes narrowed as he realized exactly what the Wolf was insinuating. "She wouldn't help me," the redhead hissed. "You know she wouldn't."

"But she would help Kaoru. They knew each other when Kaoru returned to Japan in the 70's. Try her."

The line went dead before Kenshin could draw a retort. He glared angrily at the phone before snapping it shut and thinking. His re-acquaintance with Enishi when he'd begun working for the Council had been uncomfortable at first, but the white-haired man had insisted that there were no hard feelings. Only later had Kenshin learned that that was because Enishi had returned to Tomoe's grave after working twenty years to master the dark magics he then used to bring her back.

Kenshin had seen Tomoe only once after learning she was alive…but what she was now could not be called living. Enishi had done well in restoring her body to its former self, but the scent of rotting flesh still clung to her and the sound of dry bones clacking together still echoed through the air when she moved in just the right manner.

But the point in which Enishi had truly failed was bringing back the true Tomoe. Her soul had been in death far too long by the time her brother was able to call her back. It had warped beyond all recognition, becoming a spiteful and angry creature whom never spoke a word of kindness and would never dream of taking pity on a sixteen year-old warrior for doing his duty.

Kenshin had not been able to even be in the same room as her for very long. Staring at her face and seeing the dead eyes had torn at his heart and hearing her melodic voice twist in anger had made bitterness burn in his blood. She had taken one look at him and told him she never wished to lay eyes on him again. She had continued to hiss spiteful words but Kenshin had retreated almost immediately, sweeping out the door of her secluded home and never looking back. To seek her aid now…

But Saitoh had said she knew Kaoru. Would the cold shell of his former wife be willing to help the ancient vampire, even if it meant helping Kenshin in the process? Kenshin knew that Saitoh would continue searching for Enishi, but even his resources did not stretch everywhere. Kenshin opened his cell phone again and scanned through the numbers. Hers was there, a small tribute to the feelings they'd shared when she'd been alive. Taking a deep breath, he called the number.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru's first awareness as she woke was the fact that the surroundings were unfamiliar. Her mind felt groggy and slow and struggled to take in details. She tried to press fingers to her temples only to find she could not move her hands. Tiny details began ingraining themselves in her head. The acrid scent of burning hair hung in the air. Spell circles were sketched on the wall with unsteady, almost jerky lines. An undercurrent of blood hung in the air. Black stones comprised the walls. The sound of breathing echoed from the other end of the room.

Kaoru tried desperately to put the pieces together, but whatever had been done to her was inhibiting her concentration. Nothing made sense. Cloth rustled on the other side of the room, and she knew someone was there. A shadow loomed over her face, and her eyes worked to take in the details past the haze of her mind.

_White…something is white, _her mind told her. _It's…hair. And those are glasses. Rose-tinted glasses. I know this man…_

Slowly, her mind regained its focus and recognition alit in her brain like a giant carrion crow, looming in a mocking portent of death. "Enishi," she whispered, her tongue thick and dry.

"Kaoru," he purred, his hand running along her cheek teasingly, "so wonderful to see you're awake."

Fear gripped Kaoru's mind, replacing the haze his spell had left. She fought to bite down her panic even as her hands began to shake. _No!_ she screamed in her mind. _I am not the cocky idiot I was five hundred years ago. He will not break me this time!_

Even as the idea solidified in her mind, Enishi leaned down and kissed her cheek. Kaoru squirmed as her skin began to crawl from where he'd touched her. He left a film over her skin, like the residue of black oil, and she longed to scrub it away.

"Don't touch me, you bastard," she hissed, trying to wet her tongue so the words were coherent.

Enishi chuckled, stepping away from the table she was lashed to. "But Kaoru, once you were so fond of my touches," he said, his voice belying ice hidden in sarcasm.

"When I was a fool blinded by my own power," she answered, straining her neck to keep her eyes on him. "I sealed my own demise by trusting you and your loving words. We both know I'm wiser now."

"Wiser, yes," he answered as he moved beyond her field of vision. She heard the sound of machinery moving, and the table she was on began tilting so that she was held upright at an angle. "But you still feel the same amount of pain."

She watched him, hatred burning in the silver depths of her eyes. He matched her glare with his own, red eyes glowing faintly in the half-light of the chamber he'd brought her to. "I would dearly like to stay and torture you for a while, but my dear sister has called upon me," he drawled, his sarcasm only disappearing when he referred to his sister.

Kaoru's eyebrows rose before she could stop the reaction. She'd gotten to know Tomoe before she'd discovered that the woman was Enishi's sister. The woman's wrongness had called to her in the mountains of Japan, bringing her to the tainted magic that had first allowed Tomoe to rise again.

For several months, Kaoru had stayed with Tomoe and eased the woman's pain. The spells used to bring her soul back and bind it into the realm of the living were very painful to the soul that was dragged back from the gates of death. Kaoru would've killed the dark haired woman had Tomoe asked it, but she'd insisted only on easing the pain. Kaoru had fled from Tomoe's home upon discovering that Enishi was the woman's "brother" and was coming for a visit. Tomoe had promised to keep her lips sealed on whom had been in her home for the last several months, but Enishi had sensed Kaoru's vampiric ki anyway.

That near-confrontation had prompted Kaoru to move to Africa for several years, but she maintained touch with the resurrected Tomoe, occasionally sending magical packets to aid the woman's pain. The irony that she had befriended Kenshin's long-lost love was not lost on Kaoru, and she had actually rather enjoyed the twist in her own bitter way.

Kaoru knew little of how Enishi had come to regard Tomoe as a sister, but she did know that he'd discovered her abandoned at a rather young age. He'd raised the girl and arranged her marriage with her childhood love, Akira. Beyond that, the rest of the story was a mystery to Kaoru except for the snippets Tomoe herself had shared.

Enishi seemed to have noticed he no longer had Kaoru's attention and he frowned. "However," he hissed, stalking towards her, "I can leave you a parting gift."

His hands planted on either side of her head and the glow of magic flared as spells he'd laid there activated. Kaoru screamed as the magic rushed through her veins like acid, burning every fiber in her body. Enishi's twisted smile loomed in her vision, and she closed the scant inches between them to smash her skull to his.

Enishi reeled back, the spell stopping instantly as he pulled away from the circles. At first, the inhuman smile clung to his mouth as he touched his bleeding lip. He lapped at the blood for a moment before eyeing her again. His glare alone was enough to make her involuntarily shiver. "You will pay for that, bitch," he hissed. His hands slammed into the circles again, increasing the pain tenfold. Kaoru's voice broke with her scream and her world went black.

oOoOoOoOo

Kenshin walked away from the others as the phone rang. One glare over his shoulder told them not to follow. He waited in a tense pocket of air as the rings went on and on. Finally, someone picked up.

"Hello."

Her voice was weak and shaky, but he still recognized it well. A lump formed in his throat, and for a moment, he was unable to speak.

"Hello?" she said again, her faltering voice barely audible.

"Hello," he whispered, trying to reign in the emotions left from his time as a human with her. Neither of them were what they once were, but his mind could still remember.

They other line was silent for so long he feared he'd lost the signal, but she finally spoke, a touch of bitterness present in her voice. "Kenshin?"

"Tomoe, before you hang up, please listen. I wouldn't call if it wasn't extremely important. You met a vampire in the 70's named Kaoru. Your brother has her right now, and I do not doubt that his intentions are to kill her. Do you know where I can find him?"

Again the line was silent, and Kenshin did not even breathe as he awaited her response. Finally a gust of air that might have been a sigh was heard from the other end. "My brother just called," she said, her voice cold and tired. "He is in China. I can give you the exact location of his whereabouts."

Kenshin listened and memorized carefully as she listed off various towns around the area Enishi was hidden in as well as the exact longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates of his hideaway. When she finished, she was silent again.

"Thank you, Tomoe," Kenshin said softly, allowing the anger that still burned deeply in his heart to dissipate for a moment. "I know you didn't do it for me, but thank you."

"Goodbye, Kenshin," Tomoe answered, her voice slightly stronger. "Tell Kaoru to come visit when my brother is dead."

The phone line clicked dead and Kenshin stared for a moment as the screen blinked the ended-call message before flipping it shut. He had work to do.

oOoOoOoOo

When Kaoru awoke a second time, her mind had absolutely no trouble discerning where she was or why she was there. She glanced around the chilly stone room and tried to sense Enishi's presence. He seemed to be elsewhere, but not far. Kaoru used his absence to begin working on her escape. She'd allowed Enishi to destroy her once. He would not succeed a second time.

First, she studied what she could see of the spells binding her to the table. They were basic but strong and well made. Testing her own power, she found it lacking. She was still recovering from her two spells in Transylvania. She didn't doubt Enishi would bind her power too, when the time came, but for now he'd left it free, most likely to taunt her.

She couldn't help but grin almost predatorily. He underestimated her. Carefully, she murmured a few select words that opened magical conduits normally hidden by the natural world. A storm was brewing outside and would aid her greatly. She called down the power brewing in the clouds, and it answered her readily, even through the layers of stone that separated them. Grasping a thick tendril of natural magic she began feeding it into Enishi's spell holds as though the circles were locks and the power the key.

After only a few moments, the circles flared and melted away like candle wax. Kaoru flexed her wrists and sat up, doing the same to the bindings on her ankles and stomach. Five hundred years had not been misspent in hiding. She had taught herself much about the magic of the world; she would not be caught by magic's fire again without knowing how to play with it.

Kaoru studied the room as she stretched the kinks out of her back. The magic of the storm still eagerly played around her, and if she did not use it, it would go rampant and destroy at will. Kaoru's eyes caught on the twisted spell circles on the walls, taking note that almost all of them were of dark magic. She frowned as she recognized the names of several Council members emblazoned within the magic. _Those have to go_, she thought to herself, allowing the storm to tear the wall apart without a thought.

The crumbling stone made little noise, cushioned by wind that should not have existed underground. As the dust settled, Kaoru allowed herself a feral smile. The room adjacent to Enishi's workshop was an armory. She stepped into the room and was surprised to see her ebony and ivory daggers carefully placed on a pedestal. Stepping close, she felt the magic crackle out to snap at her skin. Enishi had tried to destroy the knives, the fool. Vampire magic had no effect on them.

Kaoru reached through his corrosion spell and carefully lifted the daggers, ignoring the way they burned at her flesh. Once she had the leather grips settled in her palm, she immediately felt better. The daggers were quickly hidden away in her sleeves, and she chose a beautiful katana from among Enishi's collection.

She frowned when she felt his ki moving. He was coming back to torture her. She considered meeting him in the lab, but decided a battle in the elements would give her an edge he wasn't expecting. With her decision made, she considered moving out of building stealthily. _But what would the fun in that be?_ she thought to herself, a dark grin adorning her face. With no more than a thought, the elemental power she had in her grips ripped through the walls, creating an easy path for her to follow. Just as she emerged into the twilight of the storm, she heard Enishi's shout of frustration.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru took a moment to gain her footing and study the layout of the land. They were somewhere on the harsh steppes just south of Mongolia; that much she knew just from the scent of the land and the way the it rolled away forever without even the slightest hint of a human. Part of Kaoru was surprised that Enishi would choose such an exposed hideaway. Any approaching enemy could be seen, yes, but they could also see Enishi.

She cast an eye upward at the roiling storm clouds. If there was one thing she remembered from her short visits to the steppes before, it was that the storms were some of the most powerful on earth. They were well known for their ability to strike without warning and to kill humans with fierce lightning strikes. However, such power meant Kaoru would have a great deal of magic at her fingertips, even with her still weakened reserves.

Slowly she turned back just as Enishi emerged from the dust her destructive tendencies had left in their wake. His red eyes glinted dangerously in the shadows of the storm clouds, seemingly magnified by his rose-tinted glasses. His manic smile had disappeared to be replaced by an expression of sheer rage.

Kaoru smirked slightly, drawing the katana she'd stolen from him. As she drew, she gathered power on the lightning symbols etched into her hand. She'd drawn them on two days ago, but they had only faded a little. Lightning began to crackle the length of the sword, superheating the metal and making tiny booms of thunder rip through the air.

"I had planned on giving you a relatively swift death," Enishi growled as he drew his specialty weapon, a wanbatou. "But since you had to go and piss me off, I think I'll draw it out. How does three months of agony sound?"

Kaoru met his glare with one of her own. She did not answer him but for a murmur under her breath. "Not this time."

Without warning, she leapt forward, blade intent on Enishi's jugular. He blocked, his movements faster than her own. The lightning lashed from her blade, snaking down the length of Japanese steel and traveling through Enishi's hand. He jerked away as the smell of burnt flesh began to permeate the air.

"Bitch!" he hissed. After that, no more words were exchanged. The opponents spoke with actions rather than words.

Enishi rushed forward, his hands beginning to glow with a spell. Kaoru immersed herself in the power of the storm. She was the wind that buffeted them across the grass, the clouds that boiled and massed in the sky, the rain that began to pelt the land mercilessly. She attacked Enishi with everything at her disposal. Her sword flashed through the air, reverberating against his again and again.

Enishi was faster than she, there was no denying. However, the elements she wielded through the lightning served to distract and injure him enough to make up for their differences in speed. As the rain lashed his body, he jumped away, making a quick spell circle in the air with his glowing hands. Kaoru tried to move away before it could strike her, but one edge caught her body and wrapped her up like a fish in a net.

The circle constricted, drawing her limbs against her body and searing her flesh like hot wires. She cried out and the storm cried with her, sending down three bolts of burning lightning at once. Their power amassed around Enishi and Kaoru in a giant triangle, the thunder momentarily deafening both vampires.

Kaoru's hair stood on end as she ripped through Enishi's spell and closed the triangle around them, drawing the heat closer and closer. Dry steppe grasses caught fire in spite of the rain and began to burn and steam. Enishi eyed the flames warily, sensing their unnatural power. Visibly torn between his opponent and his life, he finally leapt out of the encroaching flames, landing some fifty feet away on higher ground.

Kaoru did not follow immediately. While she would have dearly liked to kill Enishi, her goal was merely escape. She considered her options carefully and was nearly ready to draw herself into the winds of the storm and disappear when a harsh shout echoed across the plains.

Both combatants glanced warily to their sides without ever really taking their eyes from each other, but a single glance was enough. Among the blowing grass and stinging rain a shock of red hair was visible, as well as several sets of glowing vampire eyes. Kenshin rushed across the steppes, leaving the others far behind.

Kaoru could see the calculations crossing Enishi's face as he quickly realized he was outnumbered and overpowered. His decision to escape was almost palpable in the air. "Not this time," she whispered again, the words becoming a mantra as the flames licked closer to her body. In her mind, a pattern began to glow. She wrote the symbols in the wind and spoke the chants through the thunder all around them.

Just as Kenshin came within striking range of Enishi, the white-haired man began to run, his blood red power gathering on his hands as he went. He shouted a word, the first in the spell that would allow him to escape unscathed. He never sensed the power closing in around him. Just as he finished the last word of the spell, flames leapt in at him from all sides, licking at his body unnaturally.

Enishi staggered, losing the concentration necessary to wield his spell. Kenshin closed in with death in his eyes, his sword gleaming threateningly in the occasional flashes of lightning. Just as he might have dropped the killing blow, Kaoru's shout echoed across the field.

"NO!" Her voice alone was enough to stop his blade inches from Enishi's burning flesh. She staggered closer, and Kenshin rushed to aid her when it became clear that Enishi would not be going anywhere soon.

"Let Saitoh deal with him," she told the redhead wearily, her body sagging against his unconsciously. "He'll be much more creative than a simple decapitation."

Kenshin looked down at her incredulously before glancing back at the burning figure. "And the flames won't kill him?"

Kaoru's smile was brutal and bitter. "Oh no," she said softly. "I made sure of that. Consider it more acid than flame, burning but never killing."

With that morbid thought, Kaoru silently fainted into Kenshin's arms. He lifted her before turning eyes again to the bright figure on the plains. The storm was dying now, moving on in the skies. Dim twilight shone in the west, hinting that sunset was near. The moon winked out from the skittering clouds, illuminating the battle scene in seemingly unnatural light. Kaoru had gained her vengeance, restored her honor. _But at what price? _he thought to himself, his mouth thinning to a grim line.

oOoOoOoOo

_I'm getting sick of waking up this way,_ Kaoru thought to herself as her vision faded in and out of focus. She did not know where she was, but she did remember that Enishi had been taken care of. Slowly, the world became clear and red met her eye. Her first thought was Kenshin's hair, but on closer inspection she discovered it to be a silken comforter. With slow, deliberate movements, she threw the blanket from her body.

Every muscle screamed in protest. She had not felt so horrible since she'd last been human. Carefully, she planted her feet in a plush rug laid across the floor. The complex Indian designs in the rug made her vision swirl before slowly coming to a halt again.

Reaching out her senses, she hissed when she realized how weak she was. While the storm's power had been raging through her she had not felt the depletion of her own magical resources. With its power gone, she felt distinctly like an overcooked noodle and at the same time strangely hollow. The small amount of magic she had left was just enough to tell her that several vampiric ki were close at hand, most of them familiar.

Kaoru began to stand and her traitorous knees immediately wobbled. Her hand stretched to grab the cherry nightstand to her side as the door to the room she was in swung open. She glanced up just enough to catch flashes of amber gold and sunset red before she had to look down again to try and place her feet.

The door shut and a moment later Kaoru was lifted into the air. Before she could even voice a protest Kenshin's mouth was upon hers. Kaoru melted against him, having neither the ability nor the will to fight. She could sense his emotions behind the kiss, his desire to prove to himself that she was indeed alive if not completely well. He dominated the kiss, his lips sliding sensuously over hers until a nip at her lip with one of his fangs made her gasp. He took what was offered freely, tongue perusing her mouth languorously to learn every nuance. They broke the kiss not because they lacked breath but simply because Kaoru was too damn flustered to respond.

"Now that I've got that out of my system…" he said with a roguish grin, "how do you feel?"

Kaoru lacked the ability to reply for a moment and that only made his smirk grow wider. When she did speak she said, "Like I've been run over by ten cement trucks, and you are not helping you…you…" Her words failed her again and Kenshin chuckled, his laughter rolling dark and deep from his chest.

She glowered at him as he turned and began walking towards the door of her room. "Everyone is anxious to see you," he said, his eyes still bright with laughter.

"Everyone can go to hell," she muttered. "I'm not in the mood to see them all right now."

"Oh?" he questioned looking down at her. He could see as the memories began to replay in her mind. Every dark thought began to replace the emotional wall that had been missing just a moment ago. "Then let's stay up here," he murmured, carrying her back to the bed. He was well aware that bringing her into a room full of people would only give her more of a chance to rebuild the walls.

She curled into him on the bed for a moment before gently pushing away to lie on her back. Kenshin observed carefully from the side as her blue eyes became far away, recalling events both recent and ancient.

"What did he do to you?" the red head asked quietly, keeping his voice soft and gentle. Kaoru did not look his way, but he could see the flinch in her eyes. He was willing to be patient to hear her out though. After a long time had passed, so long he almost thought she was refusing to answer, she began to speak.

"Five hundred years ago I was quite content with my position in life. I was a member of the Blood Council and was living it up in Venice…the city of sinners in the eyes of the Church."

Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise. When he'd asked his question, he'd meant her short time in captivity in Enishi's Chinese hideaway. However, if she was going to speak of Enishi's first assault on her, he was more than willing to listen.

"That was where I first met Enishi. The boy was almost freshly turned…only sixty or so years old. He oozed charm and I was smitten with him in a heartbeat."

Her lips curled in a smile at some remembered nuance that had first attracted her to the white-haired man as Kenshin looked on incredulously. There were many things he could imagine Kaoru being, but smitten was not one of them.

"We had a whirlwind courtship that involved a great deal of traveling and sex. He seemed to know how to have fun in a way few of the vampires of the time understood. They were all caught up in the romantic image of the vampire that was blooming--that of the stalker of night, beautiful and deadly and completely boring.

"I woke up some several years after first meeting him--we were in Africa, several hundred miles south of where I was born--the sun was just rising and I could look out the window and see a pride of lions moving to find their shade for the day. His arm was around me and he was still sleeping. I looked at him and saw the morning light on his face and for the first time in my life I thought 'I might be in love with this man.'

"Our relationship changed after that. I never actually told him my feelings, but he seemed to sense my change in mood. He began introducing me to the side of himself that he'd previously hidden. He showed me his human trafficking and his interest in the dark magics. He introduced me to his love of mixing blood and drugs. He revealed to me just how tainted he really was, with a love of killing humans to feed. He became a man I did not know anymore.

"For a few years, I clung to the image I still had of him in my head—that of a young man singing at the top of his lungs in a gondola in Venice. But every new shade of him killed the image a bit more. A time came when I woke up in the morning, looked at him, and thought 'I'm going to spend the rest of my _extremely_ long life with this?'

"I decided to leave him. At first, I simply told him and packed my bags. I was too damn cocky. I should have known he wouldn't just let me go. His ties to a Blood Council member had opened new doors in his underground businesses. I brought him the power he craved. Towards the end of our courtship, his name was suggested to be brought on as a member of the Council when Gensei-sama was killed by vampire hunters.

"My first attempt to leave was absolutely unbearable. His studies in the dark magics far surpassed my own. He strung me to a stone table and tortured me for days on end, giving no reprieve from the avenues he took to make me suffer. He assumed after that, that he had me completely in his power—that I was too weak to fight him again.

"The following year he was elected to the Council and we returned to my homeland in Lower Egypt. That was when I made my second attempt to escape. Being so close to the soil I was born on gave me an advantage in magic, made me stronger and harder to kill. But he still caught me.

"This time, the torture went on endlessly for months. With his position on the Council, he no longer needed me. Towards the end, Saitoh started sniffing around and that was probably what saved me from death at Enishi's hands. Enishi was forced to dump me off in the desert before returning to the Council.

"Before leaving though, he mind-raped me. Do you know what that is, Kenshin?"

"I know the basic principle," Kenshin murmured, too amazed that she was sharing any of her story to elaborate on his knowledge.

"Mind-raping is the deepest form of dark magic. It involves a mind to mind contact that begins with breaking the mental barriers of the brain. After that, each portion of the brain is systematically tortured. Synapses are destroyed, entire sections rendered completely unable to function. For humans, the process is over quickly. Only a couple of sections can be destroyed and then they die. For vampires, the process is infinite as regeneration replaces the destroyed portions again and again.

"But there is more to it than simply destroying the physical brain. The rapist is intimately connected with every thought and memory the victim has ever had. They have the power to torture the victim endlessly with images of death and hatred or give them infinite pleasure, calling up memories of a particularly good night of sex or of one of those rare truly happy days. Enishi was masterful at that particular part. Pain and pleasure alternately, moving so fast between the two my brain could not wrap around it. Many lesser people would go mad under such torment. Especially when he started toying with my memories of my parents.

"Enishi destroyed almost everything I had, almost every part of my brain and sanity, before he left me on the burning sands to die of starvation. He assumed that I would not be able to feed, my regeneration would slow, and I would die. Egypt aided me though. My motherland retained a magical connection to me that allowed desert animals to find me, sacrificing their lives for mine.

"I crawled out of the desert seven years later. The Council had ended and would not meet again for another twenty-three years. Okina-sama, the man who'd gotten me on the Council, was in Egypt when I returned. He helped me until I informed him I had decided to withdraw from the Council. I made him so angry he tossed me out on my ass.

"Everywhere I went the vampire population ridiculed me. I was a complete joke. What twenty-five hundred year old vampire couldn't stand up to another vampire not even a century old. So I disappeared into the wilds of Japan, where few vampires ventured because the culture was so unfamiliar to us. That, Kenshin, is what Enishi did to me."

She turned her head then to look at him with haunted eyes. Kenshin immediately wrapped his arms around her torso, pulling her as close as was humanly possible. Her body shook, but not with sobs. Her tears had all dried up long ago. Her shakes were from her own weariness and pain. Kenshin buried his nose in her, whispering soft nothings as she regained her composure. After long bitter moments had passed he spoke.

"I would tell you I was sorry if I thought it would help in any way. However, I know it won't. Instead, I'll tell you that I will never betray you for power or any other reason. And I will stand by your side until you are ready to take the love I have to offer. And then I plan to teach you to enjoy the world again, if you'll allow me."

Kaoru said nothing, her face buried against his simple white shirt. He had not expected a reply though. They lay there a bit longer, simply enjoying the company of each other's arms. When the tiny clock on the bed stand struck seven though, he rose, lifting her with him.

"Let's get you something to eat," he told her softly, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

"You will not carry me into that room like some invalid," she growled as he began to make his way towards the door. "I know for a fact Saitoh is in that room, and I'll not give him any unnecessary ammunition to further patronize me. He'll enjoy using the barbs he's gathered from the last hundred years enough as is."

Kenshin laughed outright at her spirit, still indomitable after all that had happened to her. Gently he set her on the floor, allowing her to lean on him as he opened the door to the outside world.

Glossary type thingy:

baka deshi-idiot pupil (Hiko's personal nickname for Kenshin)

steppes- the rolling hills that are the main landscape (other than desert) of northern China and southern Mongolia

wanbatou-Enishi's specialty weapon; longer than even a Japanese katana; Chinese style, Japanese steel

_A/N: No! No! Fear not! This is not the end! I'd be (more) evil if it was. However, the upcoming chapter will be long in coming, probably not until late April, as I will be out of town a lot the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I've given you all a nice sense of closure, rather than a cliffie, until then. If I have left any plot holes uncovered, if you have any questions over plot (how did… who was…) leave them in your review and I will try to address them within the next chapter if they don't ruin everything. In the meantime, happy reading everyone!_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Hey all! Great to finally be back. Sorry this took so long, but I did warn you. And then, when I got back home, the first thing I did was get sick. Not conducive to writing. However, here it is, nice and extremely long, though only proofread once since I wanted to get it out. Enjoy!_

_Oh…Kenshin is not mine. Rating bumped up for language and hentai-type things. Happy?_

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 6**

Kaoru traveled the desolate pathway alone. Snow fell lightly around her, reminding her of a night so similar to this one, 150 years ago—one of the turning points of her life. A tiny, disheveled cottage appeared among the trees, nearly hidden in the forest that swamped it. Kaoru approached on silent feet, knocking gently and waiting for an answer she knew would be a long time in coming.

Fifteen minutes later, the door swung open. Kaoru stood from where she'd knelt to wait and smiled at the woman she faced. "Tomoe, it's been such a long time."

Tomoe smiled in return, though the expression that was conveyed was more of a painful grimace, teeth flashing through lips that seemed too thin and insubstantial.

"It has," the other woman said, her voice deep and barely more than a whisper. "Please come in."

Kaoru bowed formally and stepped out of her shoes into the house. Tomoe slid the door shut behind the vampire and took the old-fashioned haori from her shoulders without behind asked. Tomoe frowned at the haori. It seemed familiar--the scent perhaps. Her eyes widened as recognition struck her death-tainted brain.

"Kenshin," she breathed in what was nearly a hiss.

"You knew he was helping me," Kaoru pointed out as she took the haori back and hung it herself.

Tomoe nodded stiffly and began to walk to her small fire pit. Kaoru watched the stiff painful steps with sadness. The clack of bones echoed through the air every time she took a step. Already the scent of rotting flesh was making Kaoru's head spin slightly.

The vampiress followed after a moment and knelt across the pit from Tomoe, stoking the wood before the half-living woman could even reach for the poker.

"How have you been?" Tomoe asked in what might have been a conversational manner if she hadn't stopped halfway through to cough into a handkerchief. Kaoru did not miss the bit of dark, caustic liquid that spilled from her mouth onto the cloth.

"All things considered, I've been well. Kenshin still hasn't shaken his mother hen instinct, but I don't know if he ever will. I had to fight tooth and nail to be able to come here alone."

Tomoe smiled again, something soft and bitter. Her dead eyes stared into the fire, its reflection giving the illusion of life in her chocolate irises. Kaoru continued to take in details while the other woman lost herself in her vague, dark memories.

Tomoe's hair was disheveled and dull. Her kimono hung from her frame voluminously and made her seem fragile and very small. The hand she extended to warm over the fire was skeletal. Dark circles stood in purple smudges under her eyes. Sunken, sallow cheeks somehow added to the ethereal beauty she'd always possessed.

"You're dying, Tomoe," Kaoru stated simply.

The other woman took several moments before she glanced up. "Yes," she said simply. "I am."

"I figured you would be since Enishi's dead, but I wanted to check on you and make sure."

"I knew the moment he died," Tomoe said softly. "It was like the small spark of warmth in my body, the thing that made my limbs move, was suddenly gone. I had thought that I would die right away, but the process is taking considerably longer than I had anticipated."

Her hands fluttered in front of her like ghostly white butterflies. Kaoru watched the gesture with mild interest, remembering times when Enishi's hands had fluttered in the exact same manner. He did it when he was feeling frustrated.

"How did he die?"

Kaoru glanced up in surprise. She expected Tomoe to be interested in Enishi's death, but was not really prepared to describe it to her. The ancient vampire had been one of the few who was permitted to watch as Saitoh had rather creatively punished Enishi for high treason to the Blood Council, illegal human trafficking, and several other laws the Council had found him guilty of violating.

Kaoru settled for blunt truth. "Saitoh tortured him to death."

Tomoe nodded, her eyes completely void of any emotion. "I expected as much. I knew from the moment he adopted me that he was doomed to be his own downfall."

Kaoru voiced a question she had never dared ask before. "Why did he adopt you?"

Tomoe's lips twitched upward before falling into a neutral expression. "I'm not really sure myself. I was supposed to be one of his commodities in his trafficking rings, but during inspection I caught his eye. I once asked him why he saved me and he told me, 'Because you remind me of someone I once loved.' I think he might have meant you."

Kaoru looked away. She did not want to think of such things. Enishi may have loved her, but not with his heart. He had loved everything his association with her had represented. Kaoru shook her head and looked back up at Tomoe. The sound of clacking bones filled the room again as the other woman reached for a small tea kettle.

"Tomoe, do you want to die?"

Chocolate brown eyes looked up, unreadable and fathomless. "My time on this earth is over, Kaoru. It has been for the last hundred and thirty years or so. I am ready for the next world. I do not plan to return here again."

"Do you want to end it?"

Tomoe stopped where she was, tea kettle poised to be hung over the fire. Time stretched on as both women allowed the true meaning of Kaoru's words to be heard. Wind picked up outside the rundown hut and a draft eddied over the floor. Kaoru ignored it; Tomoe could not feel it.

Finally, she finished the task of hanging the kettle. She looked at Kaoru with a genuine smile. "Death is not always painful, even if what is killing me feels like the fires of hell. I am ready to leave this world, but the pain I feel now…it is worth enduring. It is…atonement of a sort. I, who should have left this plain of existence so long ago, have been living on borrowed time while others who wanted to continue living died for my continued half-life. We both know Enishi had to kill humans to maintain my ties to this world. I will endure this for them."

Kaoru nodded in understanding. "I suppose that means you don't want me to ease the pain."

Enigmatic eyes and a husky laugh broken with coughing were her only answer.

oOoOoOoOo

Several hours later, Kaoru trudged back down the path for what she knew would be the last time. Tomoe had insisted no one bury her. Her last rights would be by performed by the slow ebb of time and the gentle touch of nature.

Kenshin met her at the base of the path, his eyes clearly showing how happy he was to see her. He still feared that she would spook at the first movement of shadow and run from him again. He failed to understand that she could not spook at a shadow when the entire world was buried in darkness.

His arms slid around her as they walked back to the small inn they'd taken residence in for the visit. "How is she?" he asked neutrally, trying not to think of her as the living breathing woman he'd once loved.

"She's dying, as I thought she would be. But she is at peace."

He considered her words for a moment before saying, "I'm glad."

They stepped into the inn just as the snow storm really started to pick up. The inn keeper smiled at them and wished them a good night. In their room, Kenshin looked out the window as a particularly sharp gust rattled the windows. When he looked across the table, Kaoru was watching him.

"The snow brings back memories," he told her, eyes half-lidded as he thought of that feverish night so long ago.

"If you had a choice, would you go back and join Tomoe in death?"

Her question was soft and unexpected. From what he could see of her shaded blue eyes, she'd been thinking on her question for quite some time. He stood slowly, walking to the window to touch the frost forming patterns at the edges of the pane. It did not melt under his finger, and he withdrew after a moment, turning to face her.

"I wondered that often in the first years after I left you," he told her, slowly crossing the room to stand before her. He sank to his knees so he could put his arms around her waist and meet her eyes. "I wouldn't change a thing, koishii."

Her smile as she looked down at him was remorseful and reserved. "You are an amazing man, Kenshin. I don't think you've ever had a regret your entire life. And yet I look back at my own lifetime and all I can see is mistake after mistake."

He chuckled quietly. "You make me seem perfect. I'm hardly anything like that," he told her gently. "After all, I ran away from you."

"Yes," she whispered, "you did." She ran her hands through his hair, removing the ponytail so that red-gold waves of fire fell freely down his shoulders. He leaned into her touch as he tried to think of a way to reassure her. He'd discovered very quickly in the time he'd been rejoined with Kaoru that she was as flighty as a bird. He feared sudden moves because he was sure she would start at the first one.

"The important thing," he told her softly, "is that I realized I was an idiot and came after you."

"Yes," she said as she slid out of the chair to sit on her knees also, "you did."

Kenshin watched breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Kenshin," she said as her fingers slipped from his hair to his back, "how can you possibly care for me so much?"

"Love," he admonished, hardly daring to breathe, "love you so much. And I could ask the same question of you."

Kaoru shook her head at him, wondering just how he could be so tolerant of everything she was: dark, bitter, self-deprecating, cold, and cruel. Her fingers traced his scar, traveling slowly over each line as though she wanted to memorize more than the texture—the pain and the guilt that the lines also conjured up.

Kenshin leaned close, so close he could feel her breath across his lips and their noses touched. For the first time since that night after Enishi's capture, she didn't push him away. With wonder shining in his gold eyes, he closed the final centimeter between them and kissed her.

Kaoru, for a moment, did not respond. Then she was pushing against his lips insistently, her fangs nipping almost desperately at his lower lip. He responded in kind, opening his mouth to her for her exploration. Her tongue crossed the distance, tracing his fangs until it bled. He sucked the blood slowly until the wound healed. Their tongues danced together, fencing until Kaoru retreated. Kenshin chased her, carefully memorizing the smooth lines of her mouth and becoming thoroughly drunk on her taste.

Finally they broke away, both stunned and heated. Kenshin could not believe she had allowed him so much; Kaoru could not believe she'd even allowed the kiss in the first place. Kenshin buried his nose in her neck, breathing in her scent lovingly. "Perhaps we'll make this work yet, Kaoru," he told her as he lightly nipped the point where he could feel a sluggish pulse.

His hands traveled over her arms, noting that they were cool to the touch. Both vampires needed to feed, but the likelihood of finding game in the storm was pathetically slim. Kenshin lifted a protesting Kaoru into his arms and dumped her into his bed, settling behind her to spoon her.

"Sleep, koishii," he told her huskily. "Unless you'd like to further our activities?"

Kenshin felt distinct pleasure when he looked at her face and saw the faintest hint of a blush over the cheekbones.

oOoOoOoOo

"I still don't understand why we had to come back here," Kenshin grumbled as they walked down the forest path.

Kaoru glared at him, fed up with his incessant complaining.

"You didn't have to come," she snapped at him.

"Yes, I did," he growled, his eyes flashing and fangs snapping decisively.

Kaoru's lips snapped shut and she kept her eyes determinedly forward. If there was one thing that was completely unchanging in Kenshin, it was his stubbornness. The redhead continued to quietly seethe as they moved further into the forest.

The clearing appeared rather abruptly. Kaoru could not keep a smile from her face as the cabin door opened and Hiko scowled out at them.

"What are you doing disturbing my peace and quiet again?" he growled, though a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"I needed to talk to you," Kaoru told him as Kenshin came up behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder and she placed her hand over it unconsciously. Hiko had to suppress a smile as he saw the changed demeanor between the two. Time was healing wounds, even if only slowly.

"Come in then. And before we start in with the damned politics, you two are sharing supper and sake with me. I refuse to think about the outside world with no alcohol in me."

Kenshin rolled his eyes. Surely half of Hiko's blood stream must consist purely of fermented rice wine.

They made their way to the kitchen where Hiko extracted a gourd of sake and three saucers. He disappeared outdoors for a moment and came back with three large glasses full of blood. "It's deer," he said gruffly as he set the glasses down. "Didn't think it would be too appropriate to drag it in through the door."

They drank in companionable silence, the buzz of outdoor insects filtering in through the patio door. Kaoru's eyes were distant as they studied the world outside. She had never thought she would find herself in this position again, preparing herself to reenter the world of underground politics.

Finally the last glass of blood was drained and the sake gourd was completely empty.

"So," Hiko said, leaning back in his chair to stretch, "why have you disturbed my peace?"

"I've disturbed nothing," Kaoru told him with a grin. "You were disturbed to begin with."

The black-haired vampire glared, but there was no malice in his eyes. "You're going to drag me into Council business," he stated simply, standing and clearing the glasses.

"Not drag," Kaoru admonished, "simply speak to about."

Hiko said nothing in reply as he extracted another gourd of sake. He sat back down at the table and took a swig straight from the jug before turning his glare on Kenshin. "Did Saitoh keep his promise to you?"

Kenshin nodded. "I'm freelance now. Seta Soujirou has taken my place as sword of the Council now."

"Good. The only Council business I had better see you involved in from now on is making sure Kaoru doesn't risk her life unnecessarily."

Kenshin nodded as Kaoru bristled. "I can take care of myself," she growled as she snatched the sake gourd from Hiko to take a drink. Both males looked at her with raised eyebrows and she turned up her nose, ignoring their silent challenges.

Hiko turned back to Kenshin. "You, go to the guest bedroom," he commanded, jerking his head towards the hallway. Kenshin spluttered but Kaoru put a reassuring hand on his arm. He got up grudgingly, casting several glances back as he left the room.

"Why do you bait him so much?" she asked when he'd disappeared.

"Because he's entirely too easy to provoke and if I don't give him a hard time, who will?"

She continued to stare down the hallway after the redhead for a moment. Hiko watched her through hooded eyes before standing. "Come on," he said. "Let's go outside."

She stood and followed him, reveling in the feeling of cool night air washing over her body. Outside, a sliver of a moon was just rising over the tree line, giving enough light to make everything seem unreal and dreamlike.

"Do you truly intend to rejoin the Council?" he asked after a moment.

Kaoru considered how to answer him for long moments before answering his question with another. "Do you remember how we first met?"

"How could I not? You were the first woman I ever went after who had the gall to strike me in the face for whatever the hell it was I said to you."

"I still don't know what possessed you to hit on a Council member visiting Tibet."

"You were attractive. It was enough reason for me." Kaoru shook her head slightly. The logic of men never ceased to amaze her.

Silence pervaded the air for long moments, broken only by night insects in their ever-lasting quest to find love during their short lives.

"I never thanked you," she said quietly, "for taking me in after Gensai-sama kicked me out."

"It was the least I could do. I always told you you were too smart for the likes of that damn Council."

"Yet you don't seem too disappointed that I'm returning to them."

Hiko smirked slightly. "Even I can see that the vampire world is drowning in its own corruption. I don't agree with the idea of the Council. It can't be everywhere at once and the members are too prone to wallowing in their own sins. But the vampire world needs some sense of order. I figure that at least with you on the Council, some sense might get knocked into the rest of them. Besides, I feel bad for Saitoh. He has even less tolerance for idiocy than I do."

He nearly didn't hear Kaoru when she whispered, "I'm afraid of going back."

His slough-black eyes immediately glanced to the side at her words, taking in her stiff body and distant eyes.

"You wouldn't be sane if you weren't afraid of facing them," he told her bluntly. "I just hope you don't let your fear control you. I personally want to see some Council heads fly."

Kaoru grinned wryly. "You know, I actually did come here to ask you some things."

"Such as?"

"Why did you take Kenshin in after he left me?"

"And here I thought you'd be asking about politics. Taking in Kenshin was hardly a difficult decision. Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu originated with me after all. It's only right that I'd look after my disciples, even if several thousand years separate us."

"You're such a self-absorbed prick," she told him, her grin undermining the cruelty of her words.

"I know," he said, grinning.

She waited a moment, allowing the joviality to sink away, before asking a more serious question. "You're one of the smartest men I know, though I shouldn't inflate your ego by saying so. Do you have any ideas about how to go about the problems with corruption the vampire world is having? I've been out of the political circles for so long everything has changed. When I was a member of the Council, we handled our bribes and illegal activities like civilized people. Now everything is back-stabbing and shadowed doorways and subtle threats. I don't know how to handle it."

Hiko stared out into the darkness, thinking. He could understand what Kaoru was saying. Just as human-kind was becoming more and more arrogant, so too was vampire-kind. Technology and corruption seemed to only further the problems. Finally, he said, "There is no quick solution to the problems in the world today. Informing vampires of their stupidity will only make them hold to it more tightly. Obviously you cannot sweep through and kill all those who are corrupted either. You'd be left with only seven or eight Council members, not enough to keep the peace. You need to find a happy medium and it will take some time. Try to reason slowly and make them remember why they joined the Council in the first place. Those who will not listen to reason should be eliminated and replaced with ones who will."

"You really think they can be reasoned with?"

"No, but you're more optimistic than I am."

She hit him lightly in the shoulder before turning towards the forest, taking a few steps onto the grass. "Would you ever consider joining the Council, Hiko?"

Her question caught him off guard. He looked at her with eyes that almost belied his surprise before giving a wry grin. "Kaoru, you know I'd never join that superfluous, idiotic bunch of pigs, even if you're one of them. I go out of my way to avoid the stupidity of the world. Vampire politics aren't my problem."

She nodded and turned to go back into the house. His voice made her pause though. "But Kaoru, if you ever need some help to put one of those pigs in his place, don't hesitate to call me."

She grinned before quietly sliding the patio door open and stepping in. Hiko watched her disappear down the hall before turning out to the world again. "Good luck, Kaoru," he whispered into the night. "Good luck."

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru tugged at her sleeves nervously, adjusting a problem she knew didn't exist. Part of the reason she disliked the gatherings of the Council was the fact that it was a great deal of pomp and circumstance and not much actual law-making. The ridiculous dress she was wearing for the Council made her feel nervous and claustrophobic.

Misao, once Kaoru got past the young vampire's part in Kenshin's plot, had turned into an invaluable friend in a very short amount of time. The young vampiress was eager to learn and had said she was grateful for some female company among so many men. Not only was the girl sharp, but she was also surprisingly powerful for one so young.

It had been the young ninja who both helped pick the dress Kaoru now found herself stuffed in and aided in stuffing her into it. Again, her eyes went to the mirror. Long material the color of good dark sapphires floated around her body like a second skin. Silver jasmine vines were subtly embroidered into the cloth so that they were only noticeable under certain angles of light. The dress was done in a mock kimono style, with long flowing sleeves and a plunging neckline that made Kaoru feel more than little exposed. However, the sash that tied the dress was not nearly as restrictive as an obi and the lower portion of the material parted easily, giving her legs a great deal of freedom. Experimentally, Kaoru did a roundhouse kick and was pleased to see her reach still extended to the level of most people's necks.

Misao was behind her, happily tying her hair into a complicated knot using what appeared to be several thousand bobby pins to keep the entire mess in place. Kaoru reached up, wonderingly touching a stray strand that escaped to frame her face. When was the last time she'd had occasion to dress like this? When was the last time she'd even wanted to dress like this?

Misao was speaking as Kaoru floated in her daze of memories. The girl possessed an amazing ability to continually talk without pausing for breath for roughly five minutes at a time. With a flourish, the young vampiress tucked a sprig of jasmine into Kaoru's hair and proclaimed her finished.

"Not quite," Kaoru murmured. Quietly, she went to the chest she'd extracted from one of her numerous bank accounts in Switzerland. Lovingly, her hand traced the deep cherry wood, fingers following the birds lacquered into the surface before undoing the small golden latch in front. Within the chest lay another, smaller wooden box nestled on top of a kimono last estimated to be worth approximately half a million American dollars. Kaoru lifted the smaller box, heavy oak encased in black leather. Her hands undid the tiny catch and flipped it open to reveal two swords nestled within. Reverently, she lifted the katana and wakizashi from their case.

The two swords had been a gift from Hiko when they parted ways after he developed Hiten Misturugi Ryu. She had never seen their equal, save in his own sword. The sheaths were steel, lacquered deep blue and inlaid with silver vines that entwined the entire length of each sword. Carefully, she took the hilt of the katana and unsheathed it, eyes going to the hieroglyphics etched near the base. Dt Ankh—Eternal Life. He'd meant the inscription both as a joke and an omen. Blue tempered Japanese steel glinted under the gentle lights of her hotel room. Kaoru drew one of her hair ribbons from her night stand and dropped it over the blade. The scarf floated over the blade, sliced in half as though it were simply a veil of smoke. Kaoru gave a predatory smile as she resheathed the katana and thrust both it and the wakizashi into her sash. Tonight, she feared the Blood Council…but they would fear her more.

oOoOoOoOo

Kenshin met the two vampiresses outside Kaoru's door and Kaoru was most pleased to see his jaw drop as he looked upon her. Quickly, he regained his composure and Kaoru took a moment to admire him. He'd dressed in black, tight-fitting pants that appeared to be leather and a billowing wine-red shirt set off his golden eyes and fiery hair. She noted, with some surprise, that he'd pulled up his hair into a high ponytail like he'd once done as a hitokiri. His facial structure was left revealed and nearly made her weak in the knees. His katana and wakizashi hung at his side, held in place by a red sash.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked her huskily as he took her arm. She nodded, giving him a seductive smile, even as butterflies began to fly about her stomach. His face set as they walked down the stairs to the ground floor of the hotel. Aoshi was waiting for them. The ninja would be escorting them to the meeting place, to ensure no one would interfere with Kaoru's reintroduction to the vampire circles.

Kenshin led Kaoru to a sleek black sports car and opened the door for her before crossing to the driver's side. She admired how graceful he could make the simple act of entering a car appear before she turned her eyes to the dry landscape of the small city they were in. The Blood Council awaited.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru took her time in watching the desert landscape flow by. Blood Council was always in the same general area, the Cradle of Civilization. It was here, in these barren deserts, that a lone branch of human kind had mutated to become something more than human. The origins of vampires were mysterious, but Kaoru had always been partial to the story about a group of Egyptians who had sought revenge against pharaoh for exiling them. In their desperation, they had called upon Anubis to be their patron. The dark god had answered, but the price they had to pay was great. They were granted powers far beyond those of mortals, but in exchange they became something less than living, something that had to feed off blood to survive.

Those first vampires exacted their revenge on the pharaoh and then left Egypt in a small Exodus. They nestled among the Mesopotamians, who were more trusting of strangers and travelers because of their need for trade. The vampires built a temple at a point between the Euphrates and the Tigris, supposedly very close to where the mythical Eden was. Council was always held near this area, though the temple had been lost to the sands eons ago.

Kenshin glanced over at her as she stared out into the desert. He knew the myths of their kind well because of her tutelage and the ancient laws also weighed heavily on his mind. He could not help but wonder how many of the great rules he would be able to bend or break in order to defend her during this Council, protected by laws older than even she. Kenshin was not naïve enough to expect no trouble at all.

Soon, they left traveled roads and shortly thereafter, the car. Night fell over the desert, dropping the temperature to a point that allowed Kenshin to see his breath on the night air. Kaoru walked closer to him than she'd originally intended to as nervousness and chill set in on her flesh. Aoshi and Misao tailed them silently, eyes ever vigilant.

As the moon rose, their small group was joined by other vampires who were also trekking to the designated point for Council. The other vampires watched Kaoru's group warily, some noting Battousai's presence with her and others simply feeling the power that radiated from her.

All too soon, they'd reached the destination. A simple stone table stood upon an outcropping of sandstone. Vampires were already gathering in a circle around the table. Saitoh stood in the center next to the table. His arms were bared and he held a stone knife carved of obsidian, much like the ancient Aztec blades. As Kaoru approached, she heard a bull low in the distance. The vampires parted like a great sea as a white bull was led forth to the table.

Two vampires hoisted the animal onto the table with ease, tying down its legs so that it could not struggle. Saitoh glanced around the circle, golden eyes taking in the vampires present. His sharp gaze found every one of the hundred Council members present.

"Council members, step forward," he commanded. "Escorts, you will move back until fifty feet stand between you and those you protect." A general grumbling went up among the vampires, even as the escorts complied to his command. They understood the necessity of their movement, but they did not have to be happy about it.

The Council members formed a perfect circle around the table. Saitoh swept the circle again with his gaze before finding Kaoru. "Kaoru, would you be so kind as to do the honors."

The vampiress started at being addressed, especially as eyes turned on her. She could hear murmurs among older vampires who remembered her and younger ones who had heard of her. She distinctly heard one voice mutter, "She's the one who caught Enishi."

With as confident of steps as she could muster, she stepped into the circle as the vampires closed ranks behind her. She had not been to one of these rituals in five hundred years, but she could still remember perfectly what needed to be done. Carefully, she drew back her sleeves as she approached Saitoh. He handed her the knife hilt first. As she took it, he leaned into her to murmur in her ear, "Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

Such reassurance from Saitoh was unexpected and lightened her heart slightly. Slowly, she turned to face the white bull. It watched her with surprisingly peaceful eyes as she began the ancient chant. Her voice began the weavings of a spell that was strengthened as other vampires began to join in, their voices rumbling in the ancient language.

"We call upon you who have watched over us these long eons, our patrons and guardians. We offer unto you this sacrifice, he who represents the strength of man. We drink of him unto you and pray the blood may satiate you and draw your favor. To you, we offer the river of life. To you, we offer death. Anubis, Osiris, Pluto, Hades, Huitzilopochtli…" On and on the list continued as the vampires listed the gods and lords of death for every culture present. When the last name was uttered, Kaoru raised the sacred stone knife and slit the bull's throat. Blood flowed from the veins and arteries in a deep red river and began to spread over the table.

Kaoru watched with magic glazed eyes as the blood sank into symbols carved in the table, bringing them into sharp relief against the white stone. When the last of the blood had spilt, she bowed over the bull and drank from his neck. A roar rose among the gathered vampires as one by one they came forward to also drink of the bull's blood.

When the last of the blood had been lapped from the sacrifice, Kaoru raised her stone knife and drove it into the stone table in the center of the spell symbols carved into the white stone. "So mote it be," she cried in the old language. Power flooded the symbols, making the table glow briefly blinding blue before settling to a hazy gold that shimmered like a net over the gathering of vampires.

Saitoh stepped forward to Kaoru's side again, placing a hand on her shoulder as he faced the crowd. "This, the sixty-eighth meeting of the Blood Council, is now in session."

Chairs rose from the sandstone providing seats for each member. Saitoh and Kaoru sat at the head of the table as the vampires gathered in a half-circle. The escorts slowly rejoined their lords and ladies. Kenshin's reassuring presence behind her gave Kaoru a renewed sense of courage as she began to pick out the faces of those who had betrayed her after Enishi had disparaged her.

"The first order of business," Saitoh declared, "shall be the greeting of Kamiya Kaoru to our ranks. She has sat on this Council before and has gracefully accepted my offer to rejoin. We shall hear her speak."

The vampires murmured amongst themselves as Kaoru rose and stepped forward. She could pick out many of their words. "Ancient…" "…raped and left for dead…" "Enishi's…" "…no right to be here…"

Kenshin stepped up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder and leaning in to whisper, "You're ready?" _Now or never, _Kaoru thought to herself. She nodded and Kenshin released her shoulder to place his hand over the hilt of his katana. Several vampires immediately noticed the threatening move and shut their mouths. The redhead could not withhold a smirk as he thought, _Cowards._

Kaoru held up her hands for quiet. The bull's blood still stained them and golden magic shimmered in the blood as she waited for silence. She could not possibly know how threatening nor striking a figure she presented as she waited for them, magic glowing over her hands and the moonlight gilding her body in silver.

When silence reigned, she began to speak. "Fellow Council members. I would first like to thank you for the honor of allowing me to sacrifice the bull and preside as Mistress of the Council." A general cheer went up among the crowd. Kaoru smirked slightly. The Council was a mob in her eyes, and so a mob she would treat them.

"I have rejoined the Council at the request of Master Saitoh. But his request was not enough to draw me out of hiding. No. I have returned because of the changes I see in the vampire world, not all of them for the better."

She had their attention completely now. One of her hands began to draw symbols in the air, gold trailing her fingers as the spell took shape. "I will not pretend that the Council was not corrupt in my time. We had our share of faults in the Renaissance just as we do now. But today's faults…they worry me.

"We have become arrogant. Arrogance breeds hastiness and impulsiveness. Impulsiveness can lead to mistakes. Mistakes could lead to our downfall. Surely many of you can think back to World War II. Hitler should have never found out vampires existed. But he did, due to our own arrogance. Because of that, we were forced to fight in the affairs of mortals to destroy a threat to our kind."

A general murmur started up among the crowd. Many Council members had been involved in World War II. It had been one of the few times in recent history where the Council had united for a common purpose and goal.

"We banded together to face that threat," Kaoru told them, even as her hands continued to etch spell symbols. "But again we are divided. Many of us are absorbed in our own interests and affairs to the point of forgetting our duties. I was one such vampire. I became so absorbed in my own personal troubles I forgot the duty I had to vampire-kind. I wallowed in my own personal despair and abandoned my people because I had become too selfish and arrogant in my own abilities. When that arrogance was shattered, it also shattered me.

"And now I return to you with a warning. We must unite and set aside our greed, corruption, and arrogance. If we do not, we will become no better than the humans we prey upon. We will regress to the animals we once were. Too many times in the past years have we slipped up. Too many times have the humans come too close to discovering we are no fairy tale.

"We must abandon our own arrogance in favor of becoming a whole, unfractured race again. I bring you this warning. In human culture, there are wise humans who believe human kind will be its own downfall. I agree with them. And just as humankind is capable of destroying itself, we too are capable of being the wielders of our own demise. Unite and concentrate on the governing of the vampire race. Or divide, focus on your own petty affairs, and fall into the decaying opulence I have observed from afar for all these years. Rot away into nothing and leave the humans to rule this planet until they too fall prey to their own weakness. Personally, I choose the former choice. I leave the rest to you.

Kaoru slowly sat back down as her spell was completed. The symbols she'd drawn into the air flared brightly and a picture hung over the gathering of vampires. The ancient symbol for vampire kind, a winged snake devouring its own tail, hung over the gathering as a portent and omen. The gathering of vampires stared up at the magical picture as the snake writhed, wings fluttering. A single drop of blood fell from the snake's tail to land on the table. When it touched the white stone, the magic of the gathering flared up into the snake, tearing the symbol to pieces to replace it with a curved sword covered in blood and feathers. Slowly the image dissipated.

Some vampires cheered while others glanced at each other with worried eyes. Saitoh leaned over and murmured, "A bit more dramatic than I'd expected from you Kamiya, but well done."

She nodded and leaned back in her seat, observing the vampires still foolishly cheering. She memorized their faces, thinking to herself, _You are the ones who will fall first._

oOoOoOoOo

Council was adjourned a week later. They never stopped the meeting the entire time, all of them forgoing sleep and feeding to see the Council through to the end. As the sun rose over the desert, Kenshin and Kaoru quietly trudged side by side back through the desert sands. Aoshi and Misao followed, having remained silent through the entire affair, though Misao had been given a great deal to think about in the ways of vampire politics. Kaoru's message had been heard by some, but many refused to see the wisdom of her words. There was a long journey ahead of them all.

A vampire with silver-blonde hair slowly approached Kaoru and she stopped, waiting. "I was…impressed," the man said in heavily accented English. "I had heard things…they were untrue. You are a woman to be rivaled with. When the time comes, call upon me to help you. My name is Wolfgang Steinwitz of Germany. Your Hiko, he tends to give me some problems."

Kaoru smiled and thanked him, bowing slightly before continuing on. She was very tired and very hungry and dearly wanted to get to the car before people less supportive of her views could catch up to her. Unfortunately, she had no such luck.

"Bitch!" someone shouted from behind her. She heard Kenshin's sword click in its sheath even as she drew her own. Slowly she turned to meet the vampire head on. A woman with flaming red hair was approaching. She had a knife drawn, but stopped several feet away from Kaoru. "You're the bitch who killed Enishi, yes?" she demanded through French accented Japanese. "How dare you usurp his Council position?"

"Let me guess," Kaoru said neutrally, "you were his lover."

The woman's cheeks flamed, but she did not answer. "I thought so," Kaoru murmured. "Trust me dear, I did you a favor." She turned away and began walking again, though her sword remained unsheathed. Sure enough, the woman shouted and rushed to attack the older vampiress. Kaoru turned easily to meet the knife thrust. Magic in her katana blade flared and the French woman's knife super-heated. She held onto it for several painful seconds before dropping it and nursing burned hand. "Bitch!" she screamed again, her hand moving to a second hidden blade.

"Giselle," Kenshin warned in a neutral voice as he held his katana to her throat. The French woman froze. She had not even sensed his approach. "I recommend you take Kaoru at face value. You knew Enishi's ways. Be grateful I do not remove your tongue for your insolence." The red-headed woman visibly paled and slowly held up her hands in defeat.

Kenshin waited a moment longer, pressing his blade to her throat hard enough to draw blood before moving away. Giselle's eyes burned with anger, but she did not make another move against Kaoru.

Thankfully, any other dissenters who might have gone after Kaoru decided it was not worth it to also test their mettle against Kenshin and cleared off. No one else bothered them on their way back to their black car.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru fell asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel. When she awoke, Kenshin was carrying her up the stairs. She muttered a vague protest about being able to walk on her own, but did not try to enforce her words. He lovingly nuzzled her hair as he uttered a spell to open the door to their room.

"You did wonderfully," he told her as he kicked the door shut behind them. She murmured something that sounded appropriately thankful as he set her down on the bed. He chuckled lightly as he lay down next to her. "Sleep, koishii. We'll talk when you're more coherent."

Kaoru awoke the next day to fervent pounding on her door. Kenshin was already awake with sword in hand. He reached the door just as it burst open. A male vampire jumped into the room only to be met by a blade to the throat.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Kenshin growled as his blade pressed deeper, closer to the vampire's jugular.

The male vampire spat at Kenshin before turning eyes on Kaoru. "You say we are arrogant? Look at you. You show up at your first Council meeting in five hundred years and act as though you are the ruler of all vampires. What right do you have?"

"And what right do you have to say she is wrong?" Kenshin hissed, not even allowing Kaoru to face this man. The strange vampire had overstepped bounds in Kenshin's eyes and he planned to teach the man manners. "Have you lived more than three thousand years? Have you watched the rise and fall of empires? I'd say she is plenty qualified. You on the other hand, clearly you have not yet learned enough since you disturb our peace. Get out or I will happily remove your legs and throw you out."

The strange vampire gave one last glare before slowly stepping away from Kenshin's blade. "This is going to be a very long month," Kaoru sighed as she climbed out of bed.

Kenshin allowed a dark chuckle as he crossed the room to her. "At least life will be interesting," he murmured in her ear before kissing her.

oOoOoOoOo

Kaoru moaned aloud as she turned over in bed to snatch her cell phone. She cursed Saitoh creatively in her head as her fingers fumbled over the buttons. The Wolf had insisted she have the damned device if he should need her for something. The result was many early morning calls that made Kaoru seriously consider the advantages of removing a person's tongue.

"What the hell do you want, Wolf?" she growled into the receiver as she finally pressed the correct button.

A dark chuckle answered her before Saitoh said, "Never were much of a morning person, were you?"

"No, and you knew that. Now get to the point."

"You know, in Europe it's only about eleven."

"Yes, well here it is getting close to sunrise. I enjoy the luxury of sleeping in, you ass."

She felt Kenshin shift beside her to wrap his arms around her torso. She pressed back against him as he kissed her shoulder lovingly. Some of the tension she could feel building in her neck immediately eased.

The sound of a lighter igniting echoed over the connection before Saitoh said, "How soon can you get to London?"

_The Wolves of London, _she thought to herself, remembering on old rock and roll song with lyrics very fitting of the ass over the phone. "I suppose I could be out there by tomorrow…or late today depending on how you look at it. Why?"

"I need your help with something."

"Saitoh, specify or I won't show up."

"Can't. The line's not secure."

"Bastard," she muttered.

"I know," he answered smugly before hanging up.

"What was that about?" Kenshin asked, lips moving lazily against her shoulder.

"Damn Wolf wants us in London as soon as we can get there. Wouldn't tell me why."

Kenshin nipped her shoulder lightly before turning her into his embrace. "I'm sure he has a good reason," the redhead told her as his hand began to slip up her tank top. She tensed slightly and his hand immediately stilled. Slowly, her muscles relaxed beneath him.

"Relax," he whispered softly. "I'm sure Saitoh has good reasons for whatever the hell he's up to."

Kaoru murmured assent as she set her hand over his, trying yet again to accustom herself to the feeling of someone else touching her. Even after several months she still could not bring herself to completely relax around Kenshin and she could see how it hurt him, though he hid it well.

"Besides, when was the last time you visited London?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not since the Shakespeare passed away. After his death there was nothing in that city worth seeing anymore."

"We'll see about that," he told her as he leaned in to kiss her.

She stilled him with a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you know about this Kenshin?"

"Nothing," he said smugly, the glint in his eye telling her differently.

"Kenshin, if you and the Wolf are planning something…"

She never got to finish her sentence as Kenshin went in for the kill, lips claiming hers possessively. She gave a token struggle before melting into the kiss. _Maybe, _she thought to herself, j_ust maybe this once, I can relax._ Her hands caressed his bare shoulders, urging him to deepen him the kiss. Their tongues tangled deliciously as he nipped at her lightly, drawing enough blood to bring both their instincts to the surface. He broke away abruptly, golden eyes gleaming with desire.

"Kaoru," he breathed, voice low and husky, "if you can't go any further you'd better stop this now, because I don't think I can stop myself."

She considered his words slowly. _Face your fears, or flee and face them another day—a day when you're a little more confident and a little less scared. What am I saying? I want him just as badly as he wants me._

"Kenshin," she whispered seductively, "shut up and kiss me."

His eyes flashed briefly and he closed the distance between them, his hands moving around her back to hold her tightly to him. Beyond that point, they lost themselves to the heat of passion and the rhythm of nature, a slow long dance of bodies in the night.

Glossary type thingy:

haori-traditional Japanese coat, for lack of a better term

koishii-term of endearment; equates to beloved

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu-Kenshin and Hiko's sword style; _A/N: For purposes of this story, the Hiko Kenshin and Kaoru interact with is the original Hiko Seijiro, the one who came up with the sword style. He passed it on to humans after he developed it and the sword style eventually got back to Kenshin. If you have further questions or are simply confused, please let me know in your comments._

katana-Japanese long sword

wakizashi-Japanese short sword

Dt Ankh-yes, it really is ancient Egyptian for "Eternal Life;" fitting for a vampire, no?

Timeline: _One of the readers requested I send her a timeline of sorts and I feel obliged to allow all my readers to see it in hopes it will allowyou to understand everything a little bit better. Here you are._

-Kaoru is 3,452 years old (mentioned in Ch 1); turned vampire slightly before the rule of King Tut

-Kenshin is turned at the age of 17 in the year 1869; he is 154 at present (Kenshin was born 1851 according to my character guides)

-Enishi is (was) approximately 560, having been turned in his late twenties

-Saitoh is approximately 1300 years old; in this universe he is originally Japanese and was changed by a rogue; staid in his home country until he joined the Council

-Hiko is approximately 1800 years old

-Kaoru met Hiko in the late 1300s; yes they were lovers; now they are just friends

-Tomoe was born in the same year as the original date in the series, 1848

-Tomoe passed away in the same year as the original series, 1866-67 (never specified if she died before the new year had passed)

-Tomoe is reborn in 1886

-Kaoru meets Tomoe in 1972 and stays with her nearly a year

-Kaoru spends the better part of 40 years with Kenshin; they meet in 1869 and separate in 1907

-Kaoru fakes her death in 1973, shortly after Enishi discovers she is still alive; she does it both to escape him and Kenshin

_A/N: The song I refer to in the last portion of the chapter is "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon. Good old song. If you can't sense it, we're approaching the end. I want to give a great big collective thank you to all you readers for the wonderful reviews I've been getting. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Until the next and yes, last chapter._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Pretty last chapter. Rated for mature themes. Kenshin not mine. End note and start reading._

**Eternity in a Grain of Sand**

**Chapter 7**

"I hate flying," Kaoru murmured to herself, her fingers digging into the armrest of the seat.

"We could've avoided all this if you would've just used a transport spell." Kenshin murmured, placing his hand over hers to keep her from shattering the plastic.

"I'm not showing up half-drained when Saitoh's the one who's calling. Knowing him we're saving all of vampire kind and we have to do it before lunch."

The redhead gave a light chuckle, but kept his eyes trained out the window. They'd just passed the last of the mainland of Europe. The English Channel glistened beneath them in the weak sunlight, dark waters broiling slightly.

"Nearly there, Kaoru. Just relax."

She glared at him before forcibly removing her hand from under his. "I hate flying," she muttered again, closing her eyes as she felt the plane begin its descent.

Half an hour later, they were stepping into the main terminal of the London Airport. Kaoru easily spotted Saitoh, though she was surprised he had come in person. His lanky figure leaned against a pillar. A curl of smoke drifted away from him in defiance of the no-smoking signs posted around the building. A glint of golden eyes found her and he turned his head slightly toward them, acknowledging them both.

Slowly, the two vampires made their way to the Wolf, pushing through crowds of people absorbed in late arrivals and lost luggage.

"Glad to see you were so prompt," Saitoh drawled when they were in hearing range. "Get your bags and follow me. I've already provided a car for you."

"How kind," Kaoru snapped, still irritable from the flight. Kenshin placed a calming hand on her shoulder but she pulled away, quickly moving to the baggage claim.

"You'll have to forgive her," he told Saitoh. "Flying does not agree with her and she's still angry with you for calling us…again."

"She doesn't suspect?" the Wolf questioned, his eyes on the ancient vampiress.

"Not a thing." Predatory grins bloomed on both their faces.

oOoOoOoOo

They followed Saitoh through the narrow streets of London, Kenshin driving and Kaoru brooding. All too soon they arrived at a hotel that was far too ritzy for Kaoru's taste. She had a distinct feeling that Saitoh didn't give a shit. The Wolf stepped out of his car and waited for them.

"You'll stay here. They're expecting you. All you need to do is give your names. And they cater to people of…distinct tastes, so you need not worry about hunting."

"What about the reason you called us here?" Kaoru asked, her teeth bared slightly in annoyance.

"All in good time, Kaoru. Try to have some patience. See the sights. Tower of London should be quite romantic."

With that, he left them, shadows settling on his broad shoulders in the twilight of evening. "Was he always this sarcastic?" Kaoru murmured to herself.

"Always," Kenshin told her, leaning down to nibble her chin slightly before lifting their suitcases and moving through the revolving doors. Kaoru followed, her mind clearly elsewhere. Kenshin retrieved their key and led Kaoru to their room with a firm hand on her shoulder.

The room was luxurious, but at least it was simple. Dark reds and smooth neutrals were accented with splashes of purple. The art on the wall was real, not some mass-produced print. Kaoru admired the brush strokes for a moment before moving to inspect the bathroom. She grinned in spite of herself when she saw the large whirlpool bathtub. When was the last time she'd allowed herself the luxury of a good soak?

Kenshin snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her neck fondly. "Care to try it out?" he whispered.

She smacked his arm and loosed herself of his grip. "You are such a nymphomaniac."

"I went more than century without sex. I'm allowed to be a little perverted."

"I went five centuries. Keep your damn libido under control."

Kenshin sighed slightly. She was still far too irritable from the flight and an irritable Kaoru made for poor conversation. "Are you hungry?" he asked, moving to the small phone with the intent of calling room service.

"A bit, but I could use a drink more."

Kenshin raised an eyebrow. Kaoru had never been one for drinking. Maybe Saitoh's call was stressing her more than he'd realized. "What are you in the mood for?"

"Margarita. I'm wishing this was Spain instead of England."

"Maybe we can stop there after this."

"No. Enough traveling. We're going to pick a spot and stay there for at least fifty years, if not more."

He did not question her. He'd seen far too much traveling in the past few years as it was. Quietly he picked up the phone and ordered both drinks and supper. Saitoh had been quite truthful in saying the hotel catered to…unusual needs. When the bellhop arrived, he was bearing a margarita, a bottle of champagne, and two metal thermoses that smelled of warm blood.

"Thank you," Kaoru murmured to the young man, flipping a few Euros to him. He caught them with a smug grin, bowed, and backed out of the door. Kaoru lifted her margarita and began licking salt off the rim of the glass. Kenshin watched with half-lidded eyes, but decided he would wait until Kaoru was a little looser before he attempted anything again. Instead, he lifted one thermos and began his supper.

The blood was indeed still warm, though he could tell that it had been chilled before. The taste on his tongue was unusual, though he was grateful that it was not human. He watched Kaoru start in on her margarita as he tried to identify what manner of creature had donated the blood. Perhaps a magical creature? He'd never had hippogryph but the blood on his tongue did remind him of a horse.

"Is there anything you want to do while we're here?" he asked quietly, as she crossed to their balcony and looked out on the city.

"Not here, but I would like to visit a friend in Ireland after we're finished here."

"Oh?"

"Her name's Megumi. Maybe you know her. A white witch who married a werewolf. They were the talk of the underworld about fifty years ago."

"I remember the rumors, but I've never met her personally. Anything else? You don't want to play the tourist?"

"Not unless there's anything you want to see. The architecture tends to lose its charm after it's been restored. I much prefer the buildings in their original states."

"Surely there must be something in London that you weren't around to see built."

"Well…that giant Ferris wheel is pretty new," she murmured.

"You hate flying, but you'll go on a giant Ferris wheel."

"They are two entirely different things. Besides, I could probably survive falling from the Ferris wheel."

Kenshin nodded and downed the last of his blood. Kaoru was looser now. More relaxed. He stood and set his thermos back on the tray. She didn't turn as he crossed the room and began to massage her shoulders. Rather, she bowed her head and relaxed into his touch, enjoying the feel of his fingers nimbly working her tense muscles.

"Don't think I don't know you're just trying to get me into bed."

"Whatever works, darling. Whatever works."

"Mmmm…"

Kenshin slipped his hands under her shirt and kneaded her lower back, dropping an occasional kiss on her neck. When she'd had enough, she turned into his arms and kissed him, dropping all pretense of not giving him what he wanted. As their lips and tongues danced, he began to undo the buttons of her shirt, running his fingers over each inch of revealed skin with reverent butterfly touches.

Slowly they maneuvered to the bed, where Kaoru broke from his lips to pull his shirt over his head. She took control of the situation and pushed him back onto the coverlet, dusting his chest with kisses. He submitted to her movements and contented himself with running his palms over her back and neck.

"Kaoru?" he murmured as she nipped one of his ribs.

"Mmmm?" she asked, too absorbed in the scent of his skin to really answer.

"Kaoru, I have a question for you."

She paused from where she'd been undoing the button of his jeans and looked up into his golden eyes. "And you need to ask it now because?"

"I want to know."

She stared at him intently, waiting. Kenshin was embarrassed to feel his cheeks flame under her gaze, mostly because of the question he was about to ask. "Can vampires…have children?"

Her head quirked to the side to look at him, clearly his question something completely unexpected. "Didn't I ever tell you?"

He shook his head and his red hair fell away from his face. Kaoru crossed her arms over his stomach and set her chin on them, her eyes thoughtful. "Scientifically, vampires are capable of producing children. I remember reading the studies somewhere. Females have fertile eggs and males have viable sperm. However, the chances of vampires actually conceiving are…poor. And that's putting it kindly. I believe the chances of an unmated couple having a child are close to one in one million."

"What about a mated couple."

"Better. About one in 225,000."

"Has it ever happened?"

"To my knowledge, only once. Saitoh and Tokio were lucky enough to have a biological child."

"How does the child…age?"

"From what Saitoh was willing to tell me, the child ages slowly until he or she reaches what equates to the twenties of the human lifespan. Then they stop completely. There's more too it, but…he was not very forthcoming on details. Is there a particular reason you're asking this, Kenshin?" Though she hated asking the question, she did want to know exactly where he was going with his thoughts.

Kenshin sighed and sat up, forcing Kaoru to sit up with him. He pulled her into onto his lap so that she straddled his thighs and then looped his arms around her back. "I won't lie to you, Kaoru. I want to build a life with you and I would be very happy if we were to have a child. Believe it or not, I do have a small dream of being a father. If you feel differently, that's fine. But this is where I stand."

Kaoru didn't say anything. Her face was buried in his neck and he could not see how she took his words. It made him nervous. Her fingers were tracing patterns on the skin of his back, but the movement seemed absent and lacking.

_He's doing it again,_ Kaoru thought to herself. _I let my guard down around him now without even realizing it. What the hell am I doing? Do I even know what I want from this relationship?_

"Kaoru?"

"Shut up and kiss me," she whispered harshly, pressing down on his hips slightly. Kenshin could hear the edge in her voice, but he complied. Things moved quickly from there, Kaoru making love to him with what almost seemed like angry movements: rough bites soothes with kisses, harsh nails in his flesh followed by the caress of a tongue.

When she was finally finished with him, Kenshin was exhausted, but Kaoru lay awake long into the night.

oOoOoOoOo

As the early hours of dawn approached, Kaoru glanced at her lover. He was still lost to the world, his chest rising with slow deep breaths. Slowly, absently, she twirled a strand of his red hair on her finger and gazed at him. His long hair spread on the pillow beneath him in a fiery wreath, shining silver and purple in the dim light of the city. His arms were still loosely looped around her.

With a sigh, she disengaged herself from him, stood, and dressed. On their balcony, she gazed out into a city of shadows. Fog had descended, turning everything blurry and insubstantial. The streets were quiet and muffled, unreal. The chill scent of night drifted on the air, beckoning like a crooked finger. Kaoru took a final glance back at Kenshin before vaulting the railing and landing on the sidewalk below. With only a cursory glance to make sure she hadn't been seen, she took off into the deepness of night.

Kaoru wandered where her feet deigned to take her. Through narrow streets she wandered for hours on end. Everywhere from the poorest slums to the richest neighborhoods was hers to explore. No one bothered her, a woman confident in her power and edged with shadows sharp enough to cut.

Eventually, she found herself in one of her favorite spots in all of London. The Thames glistened at her feet, black gilded in silver. It was quiet tonight, hardly even moving as thought the weight of the fog pressed down too strongly for it to fight. Across the river, Kaoru could see the indistinct outline of the new Globe Theatre. She could not help but scoff at it. A pale replica of times long past.

She felt his presence before he made himself known. By now, she was so attuned to all that he was that it was nearly impossible for him to hide from her. He made no sound as he approached, stopping a few feet from her.

"Kenshin," she said lowly, thrusting her hands in her pockets.

He moved to stand next to her then, wordless for a moment. His aura made her shiver. She could feel the chill within it.

"Thinking of seeing a play?" he asked, voice almost neutral, but growling with a hint of something: disappointment, hurt, or anger. Perhaps all three.

"No. Just thinking."

"May I inquire as to what?"

"You and I. What we are and what we might be."

"Why did you leave?"

"To see if you trusted me, to see if I trusted myself. And to see what you would do when you woke up to an empty room."

He was quiet for a moment. "What do you mean to see if I trusted you?"

"I wanted to know if you're willing to believe that I'm not running from you again."

"Kaoru…"

"Don't start, Kenshin," she said, turning towards him. "You need not justify yourself."

He watched her through narrowed golden eyes. Her outline was indistinct and for a moment, he feared she'd dissipate in the fog like so much smoke.

"You're angry with me for following you."

"No. I told you. You're justified in following me. I've run from you enough times to make sure of that. I just…I don't know."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, both to reassure her and to reassure himself that she was not about to disappear, become yet another ghost in a haunted city.

"I don't plan on running from you again, Kenshin. You're far too used to getting your way for that."

He digested her words, trying to let his mind work past the slight insult. Then he pulled her closer, slipping his hands around the small of her back. His eyes were dark and serious as he spoke again.

"But you would run, if you thought it would protect me from harm or pain greater than your leaving would cause."

"Most likely."

"I would follow you."

She smiled then, a slow sad smile. "I know you would," she whispered, before closing the gap between him for a lingering kiss. "I know you would."

They stood for long moments as the world began to wake up around them. Kenshin's forehead pressed against hers lightly as she let out a slight sigh. "Let's go back to the hotel."

He nodded and picked her up, ignoring her protests. She had taken liberties tonight so he would also. Within minutes, they were back at the hotel. The sun was cresting the horizon, turning the fog pink and gold.

oOoOoOoOo

"Tell me why exactly we're meeting you in a dress shop, Saitoh."

"Because you require a dress."

Kaoru eyed the Wolf, a scowl growing on her face. "You've brought me here for one of those monkey suited affairs where we all dance around witty words and pretend to like each other. That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

"Pick a dress, Kaoru," he told her, ignoring her increasing glare. "I'll send a car tonight to pick you up. If you're not ready, the driver has permission to manhandle you."

"Kenshin wouldn't let him."

"No," the redhead said behind her, "I'd help him."

She turned on him, fire sparking in her eyes. "You had a part in this?"

Kenshin did not answer, but he wore a shit-eating grin on his face that made her seriously consider the merits of punching him, kicking the Wolf, and making a run for it.

"Come on, Kaoru," he said after a moment of potential violence. "Let's pick out a dress for you."

They wandered through the boutique, Kaoru purposefully refusing to even glance at the wares. Kenshin did her job instead, picking gowns of every shape and color for her to try on. By the time they'd made it to the dressing room, Kaoru was quite certain that the red head was asking for certain death, or at least castration. He pushed her lightly into the room with several dresses that nearly filled the rest of the space she had left.

"I will get you back for this, Himura," she cried at him as he quickly shut the door behind her.

"I'm sure you will," he told her, his voice just daring further argument. He stood outside the dressing room for approximately ten minutes before speaking again. "Am I going to have to come in there and help you?" The tone of his voice gave Kaoru a mental picture of his damned smirk.

"That won't be necessary, you pervert."

"Then pick something, or I will happily pick it for you."

Her muffled growl sounded from within the depths of the room. The rustle of cloth sounded and a moment later, the door opened.

"That was qu…" Kenshin's voice faded off as he managed to get a look at her.

Kaoru had chosen a slinky blue evening gown that hugged her curves until her knees, where it hung in a straight line to a small train. A slit traveled up the front of the dress until just above her knee, showing the smooth white skin beneath. Her neckline plunged, held together only by a small black and silver clasp wrought in the shape of a butterfly. The fabric shimmered under his gaze, the impression of stars at night glinting among the midnight fabric. As she turned, he saw that the straps tied behind her neck, leaving her back completely exposed to his hungry gaze.

"Are you happy now?" she demanded, flashing an angry gaze over her shoulder. Kenshin's answered by pushing her back into the dressing room and following. Among the masses of dress fabric, he somehow managed to pin her against the wall.

"You are a bitch, you know that?" he demanded as his lips perused her neck.

"I was quite aware, thank you. Now you will get out of the dressing room because we are going to get you a tux."

"Already have one," he murmured as he dared to travel a little lower along her collarbone.

"You're still getting out of the dressing room."

"Am I?"

"If you don't, rest assured that the family jewels will be placed in immediate danger."

He moved back slightly, smirking at her while his eyes burned hot gold from under his bangs. "We're not finished. Be sure of that."

Then he slipped out, leaving her half wishing she would've hit him and half wishing that she hadn't stopped him.

oOoOoOoOo

Saitoh had not been kidding when he said he'd send a driver to force her to the gala. Kenshin had also not been kidding when he said he'd help the driver. This made for a rather uncomfortable drive through the streets of London in which the driver kept his shoulders hunched as though that would protect his neck from being broken and Kenshin had to sit with the uncomfortable knowledge that he was in a confined space with a very annoyed Kaoru.

Slowly, the car pulled to a stop in front of what appeared to be a decrepit and condemned building. The driver opened the doors for them and Kenshin had to bodily lift a scowling Kaoru from the car. "You are sleeping in the lobby tonight," she hissed as he dragged her towards the entrance, covered in yellow warning tape.

"Sure I am," he told her, his smirk only goading her foul mood.

They slipped past the tape easily enough and followed the sound of revelers towards the damnable ball, gala, or whatever the hell it was supposed to be. A smallish man who smelled like a goblin but looked like a human was waiting outside a pair of marvelously decayed double doors.

"Ah, Battousai," he murmured in a husky and slightly slurred voice, "a pleasure to see you once again. You have brought a consort?"

Kaoru huffed at the term and shot a glare at Kenshin. He shrugged helplessly before saying, "I have, Tilney. This is the vampiress and Council Member Kaoru Kamiya. She's here under Saitoh's express invitation."

The goblin's grin widened slightly as he bowed. "A pleasure, milady. I'll announce you now."

He flung open the wide doors and Kaoru felt a flush rise in her cheeks as every head in the room towards them…and there were a great many heads. "Kenshin Himura, Vampiri Battousai and his consort Council Member Kaoru Kamiya, Vampira Eternal."

The sound of her old nickname rolling through the room suddenly made Kaoru feel more at home. It was simply another gathering of political snipers, no different than the masques of five hundred years ago. She straightened and met the incredulous glares of the crowd.

Kenshin slowly led her through the throng as they began to gossip yet again, toying with the newest idea that the Eternal was back in the underworld and she was accompanied by one of its most dangerous vampires. They wandered through the crush until they found Saitoh and Tokio on the outskirts, seated in a mish-mash of chairs that varied from thrones to rocking chairs to director's seats.

Saitoh had seated himself on a rather imposing throne constructed of some sort of heavily lacquered wood. Tokio was beside him on a slightly more amiable easy chair with some of the stuffing leaking out. The Wolf smirked at them as they approached but his wife immediately stood and hugged Kaoru. "It's been such a long time," she murmured as she pulled back. "I do hope you'll tell me of your adventures."

Kaoru gave a sardonic laugh. "They were hardly glamorous, Tokio. I'm more interested to learn what's become of you and your son. I can't believe you're still with Saitoh after all these years. I would've gone mad."

"Don't think it hadn't crossed my mind," the other vampiress murmured just loud enough for her husband to hear. He glared at her before dismissing the words by pulling out a cigarette.

"Glad you made it, Kaoru. I would've been most disappointed if you killed my driver. He's a good man for jobs like that."

"I'm glad to know I amuse you, Saitoh. Rest assured we will only be here until the acceptable time to revel has passed. Then we will be leaving. Understood?"

"Of course," he said with a smirk. "However, you two will be starting the first dance once everyone has arrived."

Kaoru stopped dead in the process of making a snarky reply, her brain ceasing to function for a moment. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. First dance. You are one of the guests of honor after all, and the highest ranking at that."

Kenshin was forced to make some quick maneuvers as he dragged her away from attempting to injure Saitoh. When she did finally stop struggling, she immediately grabbed a shot from the nearest waiter and downed it in one swallow. "When we get home, I'm going to tie you up and leave you for the crows and vultures to pick at," she growled at Kenshin.

"Sounds enjoyable," he told her, enjoying the glare she was sending him far too much for her own tastes. The doors opened again and another couple entered, some sort of sorcerer and his assistant.

Kaoru found and nursed a Long Island Iced Tea as she half-listened to the conversation around her. There were murmurs abounding about Kenshin and her. She amused herself by listening to how very wrong most of them were. Beneath the thrum of gossip, there were undertones of politics. A werewolf agreed to merge his pack with another for territory gain. Two faeries quietly arranged an assassination of a demon. One vampire schemed to become lord of a city.

The streams of underhandedness assaulted her ears and began to give her a headache that the alcohol was not really helping. She was surprised when she felt a hand remove her Long Island from her and set it aside. She sat stiffly as Kenshin wrapped his arms around her stomach and pressed lips to her neck.

"Relax," he murmured. "The intrigue is all part of the game and we don't have to play the game, remember? Don't worry about it."

"You fail to understand that that's the way I work. That's why Saitoh likes having me on the Council. I can tell him about almost any alliance in the underworld because I'm the one who worries about them all."

"Mmm…Well he'll have to wait a while. You've been out of the loop for many years. Best to let it assimilate slowly."

She only nodded, leaning back against his chest and quietly enjoying the feel of his lips against her pulse. He loosened his hold slightly as the crowd began to push back against the edges of the room, clearing the way for a dance floor. Kaoru sighed and wearily stood as a faerie orchestra made its way into the room.

"I suppose we have to dance," she said as Kenshin took her arm.

"I suppose we do."

Before them, Saitoh made his way to the center of the floor, Tokio at his side. "Welcome everyone, to our annual London Ball. We're pleased to have you."

The crowd murmured and cheered in assent. "To begin our first dance of the evening, we are honored to welcome Vampiri Battousai and Vampira Eternal." Murmurs sounded louder within the crowd as they immediately jumped on another piece of gossip to pass along.

"Do you still remember how to waltz?" Kenshin asked in her ear as they made their way to Saitoh.

"My dear Kenshin," she told him as she bowed slightly to Saitoh, "I was alive when the invented the waltz. I do hope you can keep up."

She flashed him a smile that seemed so unusual on her face that he nearly forgot to take her waist and hand as the conductor tapped out a beat. Quiet echoed within the grand room as they waited for the music to begin. Kaoru suddenly felt very alone with Kenshin.

The music started, ethereal and haunting, yet at the same time uplifting and quick. There was nothing else like faerie music to bring forth the desire to dance. Kenshin swept her away in the melody as her feet moved unconsciously to follow. She admired his quiet grace and easy technique with the steps, red hair flowing slightly behind him as they twirled. The music echoed in her ears and she lost herself to it, urging Kenshin to more difficult dance steps, more complicated turns. He grinned slightly as he lifted her into the air, her dress flowing out behind her. As he set her back down, he leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Are you, in fact, enjoying yourself?"

"Don't let it go to your head," she replied as other couples began to filter on to the floor. Though others were dancing, a wide space was left for Kenshin and Kaoru to finish their dance. As the crowd grew more boisterous, so too did the music, changing suddenly to a swift 4/4 that seemed somewhat reminiscent of Latin. Kenshin immediately pulled her into a salsa which she joined with abandon, though she'd never been formally trained. He led well and it was easy for her to follow.

The sensation of being whirled around and around was making Kaoru lose focus. She could feel that the song was about to end and was quite pleasantly surprised when Kenshin pulled her into a dip, his body leaning over hers slightly. The last flutist finished with a flourish and the crowd burst into applause, whether for the dance or for the orchestra Kaoru did not know.

"That was…impressive," she murmured at Kenshin as he slowly righted her. The next song was struck up, but they remained unmoving on the dance floor.

"I had a lot of spare time," he told her, easy grin alighting his face.

"Clearly." He laughed at the dry tone of her voice and dragged her off the floor. She followed without question, slowly replaying the last few moments in her head. No wonder he was so good in bed if he could move like that on a dance floor.

In short order, she found herself standing before a young man she'd never laid eyes on before. The boy's black hair stuck up in unruly defiance and the stubborn set of his chin made Kaoru immediately like him a little more.

"Kaoru, this is Yahiko Myojin. He's…a pupil of mine for lack of a better term."

"Pupil?" The boy had no aura to speak of and, unless her nose was fooled by the other scents of the room, was human.

"What he means to say," Yahiko said cheekily, "is he picked me up off the streets and has been caring for me ever since."

Kenshin shot a small glare at the boy but continued with introductions. "Yahiko, this is Council Member Kaoru Kamiya…"

"Vampira Eternal," the boy finished. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heard it all when they let you guys in. She's not at all what I expected, Kenshin. I thought you said she was beautiful."

Kaoru snapped out of her slight fog to flash fang at the boy. "What was that?"

"You heard me. You're really kind of ugly."

"You little guttersnipe! I…I should…" But Kenshin was already dragging her away again.

"And you took him in why?" she growled, her eyes flashing slightly.

"I assure you, he's not that rude. He's just testing you, as it were. The boy shows surprising loyalty for one who was abandoned when his mother was turned."

"I never would have expected it of you. I'm the one who foolishly takes in strays. You don't."

"I couldn't just leave him to bleed to death. After that he stuck…a bit like a burr, actually."

He introduced her to more and more people. A whirl of colors and faces and wings and fangs flashed through her mind. Faeries and Weres and vampires and many other odd and less numerous magical creatures were taken through the careful social dance of pretending to like one another as Kenshin dragged Kaoru along.

"You've become a social butterfly in my absence, Kenshin." Her voice teased lightly.

"Not at all. I just like to know who I'm working for, in case I have to threaten them or some such nonsense."

"Mmm," she murmured noncommittally.

They wandered further into the ballroom, introducing or reintroducing themselves as was fitting. Kaoru felt ill at ease with those who could still remember her. She could sense the disapproval in them like acrid smoke burning from their skin. Those people she made an effort to avoid, but many attendees were far too young to have even heard of her legend. For that she was grateful.

"Let's get some fresh air," Kenshin suggested, leading her towards another set of glass double doors on the other side of the room. "They keep faerie gardens here and they're quite beautiful at night."

She nodded in complacence, quickly dropping off the conversation she'd been having with a hag who most unfortunately remembered Kaoru's fall vividly. They wandered through the crowd without even a jostle and Kaoru couldn't help but quietly wonder at the power Kenshin held among the people around them. They tripped over themselves to get out of his way.

In the gardens, Kaoru pulled away from the redhead to silently admire. He had been quite truthful; the gardens were gorgeous. All manner of unusual plants crowded the pathways. Luminescent flowers glittered against the grass. Trees that looked like spun sugar hung willowy boughs into the pathways. All around, the perfume of flowers permeated but did not overpower. Just to her right, a peacock suddenly appeared, though its feathers produced a purple light.

"Quite beautiful," she murmured, reaching out to touch a blossom that tinkled like glass in the wind.

"Indeed," Kenshin told her, his arms snaking around her shoulders. She had a feeling that he did not mean the garden. "Let's walk."

They passed other revelers escaping into the night air. Some had come to enjoy the gardens. Others had come to enjoy more carnal pleasures. Kaoru ignored them as best she could as they wandered deeper into the jungle-like atmosphere. Kenshin kept close to her, his hands almost always on her in some way or another. She shivered when he brushed a kiss against her temple.

"We are not doing this out here," she murmured as he turned her into his embrace.

"Not at all."

His lips continued a gentle perusal until she placed a finger against them. He quirked a brow at her questioningly, but stopped his advances.

"Have you thought about last night at all?" she asked quietly. He frowned and pulled farther away, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"Why are you always so determined to ruin a perfectly good moment?"

"Because sometimes, afterwards, they get better again."

He moved away, red hair slipping over her fingers as he went. He stood silhouetted by the light of the faerie flowers all around them, head bent pensively.

"I've thought about it," he admitted. "You are right; I'll admit that much. I'm still afraid you'll run again, even though I know for a fact either Saitoh or I would come after you in a heartbeat. I just can't see why you would leave. I don't understand why it's not enough for you."

She smiled gently before turning to gaze at a small fruit that shone with silver peach fuzz. "It's not that you're not enough. Some of the happiest memories I have are with you. It's just that I've been running for so long it's hard to stop again. Even now, I just want to get out of this place and wander around London."

"Why don't we?"

She blinked at him for a moment. "What?"

"Let's get out of here."

oOoOoOoOo

"You know," Kaoru commented, slightly breathless, "when you said 'let's get out of here,' I had assumed you meant let's go back to the hotel room. This possibility hadn't even occurred to me."

Through careful maneuvering, she and Kenshin had managed to sneak into the heart of Big Ben. Kaoru's normal inhuman stamina was struggling to keep up with Kenshin's god-like speed. _It's just not fair. I'm three thousand years old for gods' sakes. He couldn't wait for the elderly or something?_

As though hearing her thoughts, Kenshin suddenly paused on the stairs and looked back at her. "Trust me, it's worth it."

"You've done this before?" she asked incredulously as she caught up to him.

"Many, many times."

"Why?"

"You'll see, if you would only be patient."

"I've used up my span of patience for the night on the rabble back at the ball."

He chuckled but said nothing more. They continued their climb in silence. After another minute of slightly slower climbing, they finally emerged in the top of the tower. Kaoru could not help but stare up in wonder at the gigantic gears and mechanical pieces all around her. They all groaned quietly in the darkness, the clink of the time keeping coins starkly audible in contrast. She turned eyes toward the giant illuminated face and stared in wonder at the silhouettes of the hands and numbers.

"Come on," Kenshin motioned, urging her closer to one face. She followed, still in awe. With all the power vampires possessed, they still had never created anything nearly as wondrous as the clock she now stood in. Human persistence never ceased to amaze her.

Kenshin quietly opened a small window set to perfectly match one segment of the clock face. Kaoru slowly leaned out and took in the sight. All of London glittered beneath them. The night was unusually clear and she could see some of the brighter stars normally blotted out by light pollution. The Thames glittered as a silver and black ribbon sharply cutting through the city. She sighed in bliss.

"Wasn't it worth it?" Kenshin teased as he peered over her shoulder into the darkened city. "It's nearly midnight though. You may want to cover your ears."

"Why?"

"Think, Kaoru. Big Ben is named is named after a thirteen ton bell hung somewhere among all these gears. It's loud enough for most of London to hear. Cover your ears."

She glanced up at the minute hand to see that it was nearly at the apex of its journey and hurriedly clapped her hands to her ears as she began to whisper a muffling spell. She spread the magic to encompass Kenshin. Slowly, the cloak of supernatural settled on her ears, making her feel quite deaf. A moment later, the bell began to toll its midnight call. Even with the spell, Kaoru could faintly hear its massive swings. More than hearing though, she felt them. The tower vibrated beneath her feet with the reverberations of the sound. She could almost imagine the stones groaning in protest and had to remind herself that the tower had been standing for nearly two hundred years. She counted vibrations until twelve had passed and waited a moment before hesitantly lifting the spell.

"I must say," Kenshin murmured as he shook the deafness from his ears, "that was much better than the other times. It nearly made my ears bleed the last time I was here."

They stood and gazed out at London as the last vestiges of the bell tones faded away. Kaoru slowly leaned her head against Kenshin's shoulder, enjoying the moment as much as she could. Everything was so tangible. Even the fabled Neverland seemed in reach. Kaoru wanted to steal one of Kenshin's swords from his waist so she could cut the moment out of time and keep it for herself, for when things were looking bleaker.

"Have you thought about where you want to go from here?" he whispered in her ear after a moment. "Once we're done in Ireland?"

"A bit. I've only ever seen the Northern Lights a handful of times. How do you feel about Alaska?"

He gave her an incredulous glance. "It's beautiful, but I get the feeling you're avoiding people."

"What ever gave you that idea?" she asked wryly. He chuckled slightly and took one of her hands in his own to kiss it.

"Alaska would be wonderful," he told her softly, tilting her chin up with his other hand to kiss her. She almost didn't notice when he slipped something on her finger.

Quickly she broke the kiss and glanced down. A small wring wrapped around her finger in a delicate Celtic knot of wrought silver wire. Nestled within the wire were several opals no bigger than a small pebble. It was faerie made and she felt their honeysuckle magic dancing through the cool metal. Quickly, she looked up at Kenshin's face again.

"I know it's a purely human gesture," he told her as he kissed the hand again, "but I wanted you to have it anyway."

"Kenshin…"

"Don't. I'm not expecting a damn thing from you. That's the nature of love, if you remember correctly. This is a symbol for you to keep. Even if you should run, it's my promise to find you again. You have my heart in your hands."

To show her, he turned her palm over so the smooth wires on the bottom of the ring were visible. His fingers brushed over the single rune there and a small illusion appeared in her palm. It was not a heart, as she had been expecting. Instead, a tiny bird sat in her hand. It was the color of a bright sunrise, golden breast fading into flame red and autumn orange plumage. When the bird quirked its head to gaze at her, she saw that its small eyes were bright as amethysts.

Of their own volition, her fingers reached out to touch the bird. Her wonder increased when the illusion remained solid to her touch. Powerful magic was instilled in the ring upon her finger. The bird pressed up into her caress and opened its tiny black beak, emitting a rolling call that reminded her of a trilling reed pipe. It rose and fell in echoes through the clock tower. When the last of the calls were gone, she kissed the little bird on the head before brushing over the rune again.

She looked at Kenshin and for the first time in his memory, he could see every emotion on her face completely unguarded. "You…" she murmured, shaking her head as she tried to hold back tears, "you…jerk." His eyebrows rose in surprise as she threw her arms around him and kissed him fiercely.

He watched her face for a moment before closing his eyes and giving in to her demanding tongue. Her fingers wove in his hair and held on tightly to the lifeline he had thrown her. "You jerk," she whispered again, as she pulled away.

He pressed his forehead to hers as they both breathed, her eyes shut as she fought to stop tears from spilling over. "And why am I a jerk?" he asked quietly, weaving one hand into the silken hair against the back of her neck as his other hand pressed into the small of her back.

She laughed slightly, almost but not quite bitterly, and pressed into his embrace. He thought for a moment that she might not answer at all. But then… "Because you made me fall in love with you."

His heart stopped for a moment, and then restarted ten fold. His first impulse was to kiss her, his second to make love to her, but most of all, he wanted to laugh. The deep sound of his voice truly expressing his joy was such a rare sound that all Kaoru could do was bask in the reverberations against her ears.

"I'm glad," he whispered back to her, raising her up slightly for another, deeper kiss.

_Epilogue_

Kenshin and Kaoru moved to Alaska, a mated couple, just one week after their night in Big Ben. They lived there quite peacefully, save for the occasional power-seeking vampire, for the better part of fifty years, but decided to move to Europe when their son was born.

Life was by no means perfect for them. Kenshin still occasionally woke up in the middle of the night to an empty bed. He could always find her, but on those nights it didn't matter. She seemed worlds away.

On some days, Kenshin left just after dawn and didn't return until late into the night. On those nights, he always came home smelling of blood…far too much blood. After he bathed, they often lay together for hours, Kaoru acting as the anchor that held him in the world of sanity.

The Blood Council relied on the couple far too much. Kaoru was often being called on for her opinions in political disputes, not just because of her knowledge of the political alliances of the underworld, but also because bickering factions often silenced their bitter tongues with one angry glance from the ancient vampiress. Kenshin was often called on to eliminate "threats" in the area Kaoru was visiting, even though he was no longer in service to the Council.

When their son was born, Saitoh shifted eyes away from them though, leaving them to raise the boy in peace. They named him Kenji and he had the fiery hair of his father and the ghostly silver eyes of his mother when she was angry. And though life wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination…it was far more than either vampire had ever expected it to be. After all, neither had expected redemption for the dark phantoms of their past. Neither of them ever truly expected to be happy. But they were.

_A/N: No glossary to speak of this time around. Don't think I used any unfamiliar words. And so it is finally done. I'm sad, but happy at the same time. One must eventually move on after all. Besides, it's not like I don't have a zillion and one more plot bunnies lined up. I hope you all enjoyed this, especially since I had to rewrite half of it due to the sheer idiocy of technology. For those interested, I'm publishing the drabbles I've written for Triumvirata on this site and will also be posting a preview to my next story at the Triumvirata site. A link can be found on my author's page. Last but not least, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for reading this story and giving such wonderful comments. RBK especially. You are all wonderful!_


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